The Same In Any Language
by neooldetokyo
Summary: Ryoma's cousin has an English exchange student come to stay. She's a trainee sports psychology coach so she takes special interest in the Seigaku team and the regulars in turn have fun with her. Echizen notices even Buchou lightens up a bit ...
1. Chapter 1

"_Kon ban ei ga o me mass en kar._ Hmmmm..."

Ryoma Echizen kicked off his shoes at the front step and turned his head slightly to take in where the confused voice was coming from. Sat at the table in the kitchen was his cousin's English friend, on exchange from her university in England. Stepping into the room where she was he greeted her and his cousin with a casual 'I'm home.' before plunging himself bodily into the fridge to root out a bottle of milk.

'_Hi Ryoma-san_!' greeted Nanako '_Poppy-kun is learning Japanese. It's so sweet_!' The English girl looked up warily at the sound of her own name before sighing deeply.

'It's a bitch!' she declared, earning a confused look from her Japanese classmate and a smirk from Ryoma. He pulled a bottle out of the fridge and took a glug of milk before pulling off his cap and looking at her from under his fringe.

'Really? Cos English isn't hard.' he replied in fluent English.

'I tell you what, my 'Ochibi', I'll come follow you around for four years here and then we can make comparisons!' replied the blonde student fixing her eyes on the younger boy's face, before breaking into a grin and sticking her tongue out. 'Don't forget kiddo. We have a date for tomorrow afternoon and if I'm not going to look incredibly dense in front of your team mates I'd better get back to this.' She waved her hand vaguely at the textbooks in front of her.

Ryoma stiffened his shoulders a little at the mention of a 'date'. He knew Ryuzuki-sensei was aware that he was bringing a student to observe the training session because his father had phoned and asked her to help his niece's friend. Poppy was studying psychology or something and was researching different teaching methods in schools. However, Ryoma could well imagine the variety of reactions his teammates were going to have. Ryoma couldn't honestly say he was that interested in girls, beyond being vaguely aware that some of them were nicer than others – or at least some of them watched nice and quietly when he played tennis and some of them just made a racket. His team mates, however, seemed to be obsessed by girls or, at least, who amongst them might have the opportunity to be near the opposite sex.

He sighed and went to pick up his bag. Before he left a thought struck him.

'Poppy-san?'

'Hmm? If you insist on this suffix business, Poppy-chan is fine ...'

'Poppy-chan. Do you play tennis?'

'Nope. Never picked up a racquet in my life. I played lacrosse at school. You'll have to teach me, kiddo.'

Ryoma rolled his eyes in response and made to leave as his cousin began drilling her friend in basic Japanese again

'_Kon ban teh ree bee o mee mass en ka_'

The freshman shook his head and muttered '_Mada Mada Dane_'

Ryoma had dinner with his family and their guest, Nanako and his mother helping Poppy identify different foods and his father curiously quiet as he always was when his mother was in the house, before heading out to meet Momoshiro and do some light practise. He got back after dark and went to his room to complete his science assignment, sitting at his desk with Karupin upon his lap. He finished it with relative ease and thought it was probably time to sleep as he had morning practise before school because of the upcoming tournaments.

'Better drink one last bottle of milk before bed' he said to himself. Karupin meowed at being unseated as Ryoma stood up.

His cousin and mother were watching a film so he said good night to them on his way to the kitchen. Walking towards the fridge he was surprised to see Poppy there, still making notes.

'You can't learn a language in a night, y'know' he said with a slight smile, opening the fridge.

'Don't I know it. Anyway, this isn't Japanese. It's notes for my dissertation.'

'Dissertation?' Ryoma rolled the unfamiliar word around his mouth.

'Long essay, basically. This one is about what motivates people to improve. I'm just working on the statistical analysis. Data, really.'

Inui's face flashed into Ryoma's brain.

He smiled slightly 'I have a friend that's really into this stuff. Don't think he's that great at English though.'

Poppy smiled. 'That's a shame. It would be nice to have someone read through it and give their thoughts. It'll just have to wait until I'm back home.'

'Hmm.' Ryoma let his eyes glide over the first page of notes. He was the most fluent at English of anyone he knew here in Japan but even he was left baffled by some of the words.

Omniscient? Verisimilitude? 'Well, it's too hard for me, Poppy-tensai.'

'Tensai?'

'It means old and ugly, Look it up.'

She stuck out her tongue again.

'Anyway, I'm going to sleep. I need to be at practise early so be ready tomorrow.' Ryoma yawned and began to saunter out, milk in hand.

'Okay, thanks kiddo.'

He paused before leaving the kitchen and looked at her sideways on

'... and bring something you can run in for the practise. If you can run.'

She threw a book at him which he deftly caught.

'And we can work on your aim too' he said throwing it back to her.

She looked up thoughtfully. 'Ryoma, do you jump a lot in tennis?'

'Jump? Well, yeah. Why?' he frowned slightly, raising his face slightly to see her expression.

'Hmm. Perhaps it isn't a complete loss then.' she purred with a sly smile.

He just shook his head and continued on his way out. 'Jump? What about jumping?' he thought 'And what's a loss with jumping?'

He wondered if perhaps he should pay more attention in English, maybe he was losing his touch. Then he thought about how in his last lesson they were discussing 'under, round and through' and figured his time was still better spent thinking about tennis.

He pushed Karupin off his pillow, yawned and got under the bedsheets pushing all thoughts from his head bar replaying a French Open match he had recently seen, mumbling 'cross court shot' as he drifted off.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Ryoma yawned and threw a slim hand out from under the covers searching for the snooze button.

'_IIE_!'

'_Huh? Naaa..._' Ryoma found his cousin and Poppy already in his room.

'Up! Up! I have lots to do and you're showing me around, right? Plus you don't want to be late for your bat and ball session right?'

Ryoma rubbed his eyes blearily and sat up slightly, trying to bring the world into focus.

'Bat and ball session?' he repeated with a slight smirk.

Nanako smiled sweetly and then said in very rapid Japanese '_Don't you dare make Poppy-chan late on her first day working at your school, Be nice, be polite and show her some respect._'

His cousin wasn't often one for sharp words so Ryoma figured he should do as she said.

'_Okay, okay. I'm getting up._'

'_Good, then I'll make sure breakfast is ready._' she turned to her friend 'Poppy-chan, let's go.' she finished in English.

Ryoma gathered himself together and made sure he had packed his racquets and kit for the practises that day. Carrying his bag into the kitchen, he sat down to the food his cousin had prepared, and drank his allotted portion of milk.

Poppy seemed lost in thought. 'Are you nervous?' asked Nanako as she sat down.

The blonde girl looked up and considered the question, 'A little, yes. I'm going to be in English classes all day but I think I'm worried everything else will just be too difficult to understand. It's like being the new girl at school but this time no-one speaks the same language!'

Ryoma put down his chopsticks. 'I'm done.' he announced. 'Are you ready to go?'

'Yep, let me just put my notes into my bag.' Poppy replied, stuffing a large battered notepad into her satchel.

'Bye! Have a good day' said Nanako as they left the room for the door.

They were just slipping on their shoes when Ryoma heard a familiar voice.

'_Echizen! Oi, Echizen!_'

'_Hmm, Momo-sempai._' he murmured.

Ryoma opened the door to find the sophomore on his bicycle outside.

'_Hey, Echizen, we had ... Oh!_' Momoshiro stopped short at the sight of the college student pulling the gate closed. '_Hey, Echizen. You didn't tell me you had a friend staying._' he smiled wickedly.

'_This is my cousin's friend Poppy-san. She's staying here on exchange and doing some stuff at school for her studies. Oh and she doesn't speak a lot of Japanese._'

Poppy waited patiently for the bit where Ryoma would introduce his friend to her in English. A beat passed, she rolled her eyes and stuck out her hand.

'Hello. My name is Poppy, Nice to meet you. Erm, _Dozu Eur osh koo_?'

Momo flashed Ryoma a big grin before saying in his best English

'Hello Poppy. I am Momoshiro. Meeting you is ... delicious!'

Ryoma and Poppy looked at each other before looking away with big grins on their faces.

On the walk to school, Momo and Ryoma spoke to each other in Japanese while Poppy walked slightly behind. Every so often, Momo would turn around and smile broadly at her saying encouraging things like 'Near at school!' and 'Close! Closer!' which earned him a grin from the blonde student and also from his younger companion, although Ryoma was careful to keep it hidden under his cap.

As they approached the gate, Momo started making animated pointing and racket swinging motions for Poppy's benefit and she dutifuly replied with '_Tennis desu ka_?'

'_Hai!Hai_'

Poppy turned to the younger boy with her.

'Is it okay if I stick here for your practise before school. I don't want to wander off and get lost here. '

'Yeah. Just stay out of the courts. There's a bench over there.'

Momo turned to Echizen filled with exaggerated anger as Poppy walked over to where the seventh grader had indicated.

'_Oi, Echizen-kun. You're meant to show a lady to her seat!_'

'_Be my guest_' the boy replied, turning towards the club house.

'Poppy-san! Poppy-san! Sit here now! Now!' Momo called after the student. She smiled at him.

'_Ari gato Go zii muss, Momo-kun._'

Feeling satisfied with his hospitality Momo also turned to the clubhouse.

Slowly boys began to filter out, some in blue jackets and some like Ryoma and Momo in blue and white jackets with 'Seigaku' on the back. Sat on her bench, Poppy vaguely wondered why they were in English before realising that it was just a Romanization of their school's name. A portmanteau in fact. I should teach Ryoma that one, she thought. Watching them pair up and play, it was clear the boys with the Seigaku jackets were much better than the others. She didn't know much about tennis – occasional attendance of Wimbledon aside – but her psychology background clearly showed her who was most ready for battle on the courts. She smiled wryly wondering what they stitched the jackets with to encourage such a driving spirit before idly concluding the wearing of the jacket itself was motivation. She scribbled this observation into her notebook and pulled out one of her set texts to read while the boys played opposite.

On the courts, her appearance – both literally and figuratively – has been noted by Ryoma's teammates.

'_Ochibi, Ochibi!_' Kikumara Eiji bounced over to the younger player '_Who's the girl you brought?_'

Ryoma rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to answer before Momoshiro cut in '_She's English, a college student, over here studying and staying at Echizen's place. Hands off, I saw her first!_'

'_But Momo you have Tachibana-An!_' whined Eiji looking over to the girl on the bench.

'_We're just friends!_' protested Momo

'_Well, maybe I can be just friends with Ryoma's friend!_' he gripped Ryoma in a vice-like bearhug. '_That's okay, Ochibi? Right?_'

'_Get off me!_' came the muffled reply.

'_There is a 95 chance she will think you are too young to have a relationship with_'

Eiji jumped, releasing the smaller player from his grip, '_Inui! Why do you always creep up like that!_'

Inui gave a small smile by way of an answer and adjusted his glasses slightly.

'_It is true. Being of college age, it is likely she is over 18 and probably closer to 21._'

Ryoma pulled his cap down lower '_Actually, she's 23. Can we play some tennis now please?_'

Just a moment later the captain Tezuka came on to the courts. '_Regulars are to have a practice on courts A and B, first-years please be ready to collect balls._'

Unfortunately for that effort, Poppy stood up at that exact moment and pulled her hair out of its bun and shook it free, with the intention of plaiting it to pass the time, attracting the attention of every boy there. Momo and Eiji nearly fell flat forward, clutching each other.

_'She's ...'_

_'Rggh...'_

It wasn't that the college student was some exceptionally good-looking woman, though she was pretty in a girlish way, but more that she was a girl with long curly blonde hair that fell forward causing her to push it from her face as it fell in cascades over her body, which served to emphasize that she had a body with curves. Tezuka was aware that he had lost the attention of his team and looked over to the cause of this disturbance. The disturbance was blissfully unaware that anything was going on and even Tezuka paused for a fraction of a section before shouting '_Regulars! I said courts A and B. 10 laps for not paying attention!_' There was a collective groan and Momo said '_It's Echizen's fault for bringing beautiful women to practise!_' Kaidoh hissed '_It's your fault for staring so obviously at her!_' Tezuka took this in for a second and then called out '_Echizen, come here please!_'

The rest of the regulars began their laps – Eiji complaining that Echizen had got out of it – as the boy in question approached his captain.

'_Tezuka-buchou?_'

The captain looked over to the girl on the benches

'_Echizen, do you know who that girl is?_'

'_She's an English exchange student staying with my family. She's doing some research here at school with Ryuzuki-sensei. Her name is Poppy._'

'_I see._'

Ryoma felt compelled to defend himself. '_I have to show her round after practise. She asked if she could stay here so she didn't get lost._'

Just at that moment, the regulars reached the bench where the student was sat. She had watched their approach with mild interest, moving her bag from their path.

'Hoi! Hoi! Kikumaru dash!' cried Eiji sprinting to the front

'_She'll be here later too._' said Ryoma as Kaidoh also put on a concerted run in front of the bench.

'_Then you will introduce her properly to the team then_.' Tezuka said, watching the players put in extra effort while sprinting past the student.

'_Hai._' the freshman said adjusting his cap.

'_Back to the court then. Warm up and you can play Eiji once he has done his laps._'

Ryoma turned and began to walk away

'_Echizen_'

'_Hmm?_' he turned to look back at the third year.

'_Does she speak Japanese?_'

'_No, not much_.'

'_Please be her translator here at the courts._'

'_Sure._' the boy turned and walked to the gate of the court

Interesting, he thought tugging down his cap. Even Tezuka is curious.

The rest of the morning session passed uneventfully. Even Momo stopped trying to dunk smash everything coming his way once he realised Poppy was buried deep in a difficult-looking textbook. Tezuka called an end to the practise and everyone trundled to get changed. Poppy packed up her bag and made her way to the door of the clubroom to wait for Ryoma to emerge. Evidently he was concerned that either she or he might be bombarded with questions as he appeared at the door changed and ready to go with a speed she hadn't seen him use in the four days of her visit so far.

'Hey!' she greeted him with a grin 'You've got game, kiddo.'

He shrugged. 'I'll take you to see Sensei' he replied.

The rest of the morning passed by quietly enough for Ryoma. He had mathematics – boring but simple – followed by double Chemistry. He spent break bouncing a tennis ball idly against a wall watching Horio being chased about by a perpetually angry Tomoko.

'_Oi! Echizen_' the loud-mouthed boy cried '_Can't you stop her?_'

'_Don't want to_' Ryoma replied, not taking his eyes from the ball.

'_What lesson have we got next?_' Sakuno asked timidly.

'_English_' replied Horio '_It's so hard!_'. Echizen merely yawned in reply, as the bell rang.

Ryoma trailed behind the others entering the classroom, vaguely aware as he entered that there was a buzz in the atmosphere. As he took his seat it became immediately apparent why. Poppy was sat at the front by their teacher 'Mr Mizuno', as he insisted on in class.

'Good morning, class 2'

'Good morning, Mr.Mizuno'

'_Today we have a special guest, all the way from England. Please make her welcome_. Poppy, please introduce yourself.'

'Hello everyone. My name is Poppy and I am a university student. I do not speak much Japanese but I am delighted, er pleased, to be here.'

'_And would someone welcome Poppy on behalf of the class? Horio_?'

Horio reluctantly stood up and stuttered 'Hello. This is the class. We welcome it.' he bowed and sat down quickly, replaying the words in his head.

Poppy caught the smirk on Ryoma's face and quickly looked away back to Horio.

'Thank you very much for your kind welcome.' she smiled sweetly.

They set to working on an exercise from their textbook with both the teacher and Poppy going round and checking their work. Horio kicked Echizen who was dozing quietly in his chair, having finished some minutes ago,

'_Echizen! You know that girl don't you?_'

'_She's a friend of my cousin._'

'_What's the answer to question 4?_'

Ryoma looked down at the textbook 'think of three adjectives to describe yourself – remember adjectives are description words'

Ryoma looked over to Horio '_try _loud, annoying _and_ conceited'

Horio scribbled them down 'c-e-i-t-e-d... _thanks, Echizen._'

At that point Poppy stood between the boys' desks and read their work.

'Ryoma-kun, you know more sophisticated words than 'quiet, dark and short'.'

'Yeah but whenever I use them the teacher has to get his dictionary out.'

Poppy smiled a little and looked over to Horio's work. She couldn't supress a giggle.

'Horio-kun. perhaps you shouldn't rely on Echizen-kun quite so much.' and glided away leaving Horio asking everyone around him what he had written that was so funny and Ryoma ignoring his complaints in favour of light dozing once again.

Eventually the bell rang for lunch. The English teacher told Poppy where the cafeteria was and asked Sakuno to show Poppy around. Sakuno asked hesitant questions in English about Poppy and where she was staying, her eyes lighting up when she realised the student knew Ryoma.

She clutched her hands to her chin as she said 'Ryoma Tennis is good!' Poppy grinned at the shy girl next to her. Very sweet. she thought. A crush. 'Yes' she replied to Sakuno.'His tennis is excellent!'

'Excellent' the girl echoed, before backtracking the corridor. '_Gomen! Gomen!_' she said going red 'Food here!'

The cafeteria was rammed with students. Poppy spotted Momo at the back of the queue bellowing his order to the lady furiously dishing up meals.

'_Hai! Hai!_' she called.

'Hey Poppy-chan!' Momo shouted before continuing in excited Japanese. She looked at Sakuno, who simply blushed and shook her head.

'He wants to know if you'll eat lunch with him' said a voice behind them. The girls turned to see Ryoma there. 'But if you do he'll probably eat everything on your plate before you get a chance. Let's go queue.'

'_Ryoma-kun_!' said Sakuno blushing. Poppy smiled to herself, Echizen probably unwittingly made that kid's day.

They joined the queue behind Momo, who started talking in an excited manner about what seemed to be on the menu for the day. Poppy had a sudden thought.

'Hey, kiddo ..'

Ryoma turned to her, 'Hmm?'

'What should I eat. I don't know many Japanese foods and I'll feel like an imbecile pointing and grunting.'

Poppy was suddenly aware that the entire queue, indeed most of the cafeteria, was watching her now. Momo erupted into an animated speech to the crowd which seemed to rapidly disperse onlookers.

Poppy looked at Ryoma, wariness and confusion playing out across her face.

'What did Momo say?'

'Nothing much. He just said you were property of the tennis team and Tezuka-buchou would be concerned if anyone upset you.' said the freshman with a glance forwards to the line.

'Oh. And for lunch?'

Ryoma smirked 'Just ask for an ongiri bento. It's a takeaway lunch sort of thing.'

As the queue moved forward and Poppy placed her order, the freshman wondered how many laps Momo would get when the captain learned that the sophomore had claimed Poppy was Tezuka's girlfriend.

It was a sunny day and so they took their lunch outside. Momo and Sakuno tried to help Poppy with chopsticks, while Ryoma ate quietly watching the college student attempt to eat her rice parcel, hindered more by Moma's enthusiastic demonstration than her own inexperience. Finally, she sighed.

'I'm getting hungry. These fiddlesticks are a bitch.'

She reached into her bag and pulled out a plastic fork. 'Right, let's see what this grub is really like then.'

She took a big mouthful at last. 'Mmmmmmmn'

'_Ooishi desu ka_?' said Sakuno hopefully

'_Mmn, ooishi desu_.' Poppy replied with a wide grin.

Ryoma smiled slightly. 'You should tell Momo-senpai you find him ... _ooishi_.'

Poppy giggled remembering this morning's greeting. The sophomore in question clearly couldn't quite translate what had been said but took it as reason enough to bind the younger boy in a headlock and knuckle his head.

'Oooow!'

'_What did you say, Echizen?_'

Poppy smiled. She could well remember lunchtimes like this when she had been in school but she was no longer 13 and couldn't really continue to watch. Being old was so boring sometimes.

'Momo-kun.' she said seriously 'Stop.' she raised her hand as an indication of her meaning. Momo dropped Echizen immediately and looked self-concious. He had clearly forgotten he was in the company of an acting-staff member.

'Sorry, sorry, sorry.' he said smiling apologetically. Poppy smiled in return before turning to Ryoma who was adjusting his hair.

'Hey, Ochibi. Can you take me to the classroom for Class 6? I'm teaching English there next lesson and I have some notes to make before hand.'

'Sure'

Ryoma turned to Momo and Sakuno 'See you for practise later.' Poppy waved and they both turned towards the school.

At that moment Tomoko came bounding towards Sakuno. '_Saki-chan, Saki-chan, where have you been all lunchtime?_'

Momo gave a sly grin. '_She's been having lunch with Ryoma-kun._'

'_WHAT? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!!_'

'_Well_,' the girl with the plaits protested '_He has a girl staying at his house and really I was showing her round and .._'

'_WHAT? WHO IS SHE? WHY DID NO ONE ASK ME?!_'

Momo got up and sauntered away grinning. Echizen was going to have to bring more mystery women to school. It caused all kinds of excitement. He spotted Kaidoh up ahead.

'_Hey, viper! We have science. Wanna walk up to the lab with me?'_

_'Fsssssssssssssssssh.'_

Poppy dutifully followed her young friend up the stairs and into the classroom for class 6. Some of the third-years were already there and the moment they entered she recognised one particularly bouncy one from the tennis practise earlier.

'_Ochibi! Welcome to class six, nya!_' the red-head singsonged.

'_Oisu._' Ryoma replied. '_I'm making a delivery_.' he indicated the blonde girl in his shadow. Poppy casually walked towards the student support desk at the front and took out a book and notepad from her bag.

'_Oh, she's so pretty, nya. Is she joining our class?_'

'_Yeah. She doesn't speak a lot of Japanese though_'

Shuusuke Fuji stood up and wandered over to the doorway where Eiji was talking to the freshman. He smiled lightly.

'_Hey Echizen-kun. You don't come by very often_.' he said softly, looking over to the 'delivery' making hurried notes.

'_Yeah, well. Take care of Poppy-tensai, Fuji-tensai_.' the first-year replied with a smirk.

'_Hoi! We will_.' Eiji turned his eyes on the girl sat by the blackboard, leafing through her notebooks.

Ryoma turned to leave.

'Thanks Ryoma-kun!' Poppy called.

Just then the bell rang. Poppy looked up, met half-a dozen curious faces and decided to wait until the teacher arrived before making any sort of introduction.

More students filed in taking their places and chattering excitedly. Someone asked her if she was the new teacher in Japanese. She replied in English. 'I am your teaching assistant for today. I am here to learn all about you and use it against you at a later date.' in amongst all the nodding she heard a soft laugh from Fuji. She recognised him from the tennis too.

'Hey, kid. Your English is pretty good, huh?' she grinned, delighted someone had got her joke.

'_Saa_, it's not as good as Echizen-kun,' he replied, still smiling 'But I try to read English whenever I can.'

'_Hey, Fuji! Fuji! What's so funny, nya_?' asked the red head, pouting as the other third year made obvious inroads with the English girl.

Just then the teacher walked into the room. Poppy groaned inwardly as she realised it was Mr.Mizuno again. His lessons weren't exactly inspiring. In a flash, she knew what she was going to do with her portion of the lesson. Introductions were made, this time a lovely willowy girl greeted Poppy on behalf of the class by saying she was pleased to welcome such beauty to the classroom. Poppy blushed despite herself and thanked her for her kind welcome.

As these were third years, the majority of the lesson was conducted in English – with some enthusiastic miming by the teacher to get his instructions across - and Poppy was able to take some good notes about motivational practise. The last twenty minutes were given over to her to teach extended vocab. She grinned and got to her feet.

'How many of you here play sports or games?' The majority of students raised their hand.

'Okay then let's learn some sports. We will go from easy to hard. Okay?'

First, she mimed swinging a bat

'Baseball!' the class shouted.

Next, she swung a racquet

'Tennis!' the class shouted louder.

She went through a number of different sports teaching them the English names for rugby, rowing, hockey, archery, swimming and finally getting to gymnastics and trampolining. The class were amused by her enthusiastic miming – as she had hoped – and got more and more into it.Finally she finished with ironing, which earned her some confused looks, so she handed round some pictures of 'extreme ironing'.

'It isn't an Olympic sport yet but maybe in the future ...' she joked.

Next she got the class to join her in learning synonyms. She got out a mini-thesaurus and passed it around for the students to see.

'In English, there are lots of words that have similar meaning but aren't the same. We can use these to vary our vocabulary and learn more words.'

She jumped up and down.

'What am I doing?'

'Jumping!' cried Eiji, delighted there was a word he knew straight away.

She changed to one leg

'What now?'

The class looked confused

'I'm hopping' she said. 'Hop. Hop. Hop. Everyone join in.'

She indicated that the class should join her and there was much scraping of chairs and kicking of bags as the third-years joined her in hopping on the spot.

'All together. Hop, hop, hop.'

The class all began to hop and up and down together.

'Okay, copy after me. I hop.'

'I HOP!'

'You hop'

'YOU HOP'

'he hops'

'HE HOPS'

'she hops'

SHE HOPS'

'we hop'

'WE HOP'

'they hop'

'THEY HOP!'

She stopped hopping and the class followed suit giggling and moving their belongings back to where they had been hopped out of place.

Next she ran out the spot.

'What am I doing now?'

'RUNNING' cried the class

She slowed her pace

'What now?'

'Walking?' ventured a girl near the front.

'Not quite.' Poppy slowed down more, 'This would be walking'. She moved up a pace.

'Everyone join in.' the class copied her once again. 'Okay, now you are jogging. Jog, jog, jog.'

'Jog, jog, jog' joined in the class.

'I jog'

'I JOG'

'you jog'

'YOU JOG ...'

This continued as Poppy taught them sprint, dash, catch, throw, skip and their conjugations.

Finally, the bell rang and she flopped back in her chair exhausted.

'Saankyoo, Poppy-sensai' said Eiji enthusiatically, as he gathered his tennis bag.

'You're welcome. Oh, Eiji-kun. Can you show me where the tennis courts are from here?' Poppy said grabbing her bag, 'I'm meant to be observing, er, watching' – she corrected herself watching confusion cloud the slim boy's face – 'the team play.'

'Hai! Come follow me!' he beamed at Poppy, delighted to have a claim on the student's attention.

Fuji followed the pair out as Eiji sprang around them

'Hoi! I'm Kikamuru Eiji. Nice to meet you Poppysensai-chan! Do you play tennis?'

'No, not tennis.'

'Oh no! We could have played together.' his face fell. 'Well, we can teach you!' he said with a wide smile again.

Fuji smiled at the blonde girl to his left, noting she wasn't even as tall as Ryoma Echizen.

'Are you here to watch Echizen-kun?' he asked

'I'm here to watch the whole team train. I hope you will have a starring role in my college work.' she smiled. 'I'm studying motivational training.'

'Moh tee vay shun' replied Fuji. 'I know that word. We use it a lot in tennis.'

'Then I'm definitely watching the right team!' Poppy grinned.

They reached the tennis courts and the boys disappeared to get changed. Poppy walked onto the courts and was greeted by Ryuzuki-sensei. She looked over the courts indicated by the teacher and felt a bit at a loss.

'_My Japanese is not good. Please forgive me._'

'Don't worry' replied the teacher in English 'My English is not good either. Together we will find a way.' she gave a knowing smile. 'A few on the team speak well so they will help.'

'Thank you,' Poppy replied, grateful for the encouragement. She didn't want to be more of a burden than a help and really the coach's English seemed a lot better than her Japanese.

As the boys began to filter out, the coach noticed Poppy was still wearing heels and a skirt.

'Do you have other clothes?' she asked

'Yes, where should I change?'

The coach called over to her granddaughter, the girl she had had lunch with earlier, Sakuno.

'_Please show Poppy-san where to change_.'

'_Hai_'

Sakuno beckoned and Poppy followed the girl with the plaits towards the clubhouse. Just as they got there a small boy with a mop hair cut tripped on a tennis ball, dropped by the boy with the garish shirt Poppy recognised as Horio, falling and spraining his ankle.

'_Kachiro-kun_!' cried the younger girl, gathering him from the floor.

'Take him for help' said Poppy, 'I'll be fine here.'

As the boy limped away leaning on the skinny girl for help, Poppy stepped into the changing room. She quickly dressed in leggings, a t-shirt and her lacrosse skirt - all in her university colours of blue and white – leaving a towel on top of her bag for later. Last she laced her shoes, fixed her hair in a tight ponytail and headed out. The captain was speaking to the whole club. She noted they stood in a formation with the regulars at the front in their jackets. Captain Tezuka Kunimitsu had quite an aura about him. His charisma clearly kept everyone in line. She was reminded, with a pang, about an old captain of hers now training people for the upcoming Olympics. To have that air of leadership at just 15 was something special. She stepped onto the court expecting to slip by unnoticed but the coach called her to the front. Poppy listened as she was introduced and was surprised that in just a few short days her comprehension was picking up, enough to understand that she was being warmly complimented if not specifically over what.

'_Listen up everyone. We have a visitor. This is Poppy-san. She is a student at a very good university in Europe, studying psychology and she has come here to observe our practises. She doesn't play tennis but she is involved in other sports so it will be a learning experience for everyone. Also, she doesn't speak a lot of Japanese but as she recieved a very prestigious scholarship to come to Japan I expect you to treat her with nothing but respect. Understood_?'

'_Hai!_'

Ryoma's ears pricked up. He didn't know Poppy had got a scholarship to come to Japan. He glanced over to Tezuka whose interest also seemed to be piqued. The captain took a glance at the crest on the student's skirt. Trinity College. Ryoma caught his expression flicker with slight suprise before settling into its usual serious mask.

'_Okay, regulars will be training together today to show Poppy-san what a team determined to win the Nationals does each day. This will be on court A. Do your best. Everyone else will have practise matches on the remaining courts_.' said Ryuzuki-sensei before stepping back to indicate people were to move on.

Poppy realised she was already on court A, so she waited to see what the coach would suggest. Instead it was a very tall boy with glasses who stepped forward presenting a sheet to everyone with their instructions on and talking through what the team would be doing. Suddenly Eiji grabbed her hands.

'Pair, yes?' he beamed, bouncing up and down. She realised that everyone had paired up.

'Er, sure. What are we doing?' She looked around to see everyone stretching and warming up so she followed Eiji's lead as he chattered excitedly about tennis using all the words he had learned in their English class today. She smiled, his enthusiasm was infectious and it amused the rest of the team.

'Hoi! Hoi!' he cried backflipping 'Acrobatic playtime!'

'You are bendy.' smiled Poppy

'Ben dee, ben dee' repeated Eiji 'Kikamuru Bendy!' he grinned, bouncing about.

They went through a practise, chasing balls and jumping for smashes – though Poppy sat out on that - before finishing with flexibility practise.

Poppy smiled to herself, watching Eiji literally run rings around the other team's efforts of jumping and reaching for balls.

She stepped forward and said simply 'Eiji-kun'. He turned to see her complete three backflips and jump forward over the net.

'Hoi, hoi!' she smiled. The team took a shared intake of breath before cheering.

'_Nya_!' cried Eiji '_That's my trick_!'

Ryoma pulled his cap down, bouncing a ball on his racket, and recalling the conversation they had had the night before. 'Jumping, hmm.' he said to himself watching the blonde girl walking over to the coach and captain. She talked briefly to them before pulling a phone from her small kitbag left on the side.

Ryoma started rallying with Momo, helping him control his smashes better, watching with half-an-eye on what his captain and the student were discussing. He hadn't realised Tezuka was so fluent in English but he seemed to be translating what Poppy was saying for the old lady well enough.

'_Oishi-senpai_' he called over to the other court, where the vice-captain was facing a very burning Kawamura. '_Is buchou good at English?_'

'_Hai! He is the best in our class_.' beamed Oishi proudly.

Ryoma said nothing further but continued to watch as the captain nodded as Poppy spoke.

Momo cut in. '_Those three must be planning something. They must be._'

'_I hope it doesn't involve Inui's vegetable juice_' sighed the freshman, before sending a twist serve shooting towards Momo.

'_Oi, Echizen! That's not fair, warn me before you do that_!'

Echizen replied by sending another ball the way of the tall sophomore.

'_Echizen!!_'

Poppy was delighted to find that the captain had a very good comprehension of spoken English - well above 9th grade level - which made talking with him a pleasure. He explained the aims of the team's training and what their collective weaknesses were. He said that - Oishi and Eiji aside - they weren't always very good at working together. Poppy explained a training method she had supervised before back home that they could replicate at the university's facilities. As she explained her plan, the coach and captain exchanged a knowing glance. It certainly explained the acrobatics. Poppy phoned a student she knew at Nanako's college who readily agreed to assist.

'It's all set for 10am Sunday morning.' Poppy reported. Tezuka translated for the coach who smiled in agreement.

'_I am going to see what the juniors are doing_' the coach said, '_Tezuka-buchou, please answer Poppy's questions to the best of your ability_.'  
'_Hai_.'  
He turned to the student opposite him as the coach started barking commands to the freshman hitting practise balls.  
'We are honoured to have someone from such a prestigious college join us here.'  
'Ahh, you know Trinity?'  
'I know if its reputation.' Tezuka looked solemn.  
'Well, thankfully, I find it is not especially well known amongst the students here. It means no-one expects too much from me and I can research without pressure.' Poppy smiled.  
'You find it a burden?'  
'I like my college and my work but I came to Japan to experience a different country as well as research for my course.'  
The captain paused, reflecting that the young lady in front of him had successfully evaded his question but he did not want to push her into a topic she was uncomfortable.  
She looked across the court and continued 'I made friends with Nanako, Ryoma's cousin, through a college exchange. She told me her cousin attended a good school in the Tokyo area and I should apply to do my research here. Everyone has been so helpful. I feel very lucky to be here.'  
'Sensai mentioned you won a scholarship.'  
'Um, yes, a travel fund for research into sport psychology.'  
Tezuka raised an eyebrow, but the student grinned in return.  
'Don't worry. I shan't be running off and selling secrets to the Russians' she giggled 'Part of my remit here is to teach new techniques as well. That is why I am here at the school. Schools of this level rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to use someone with my sort of background. My research paper will suggest that this should be remedied soon so that new champions can be found right from elementary school level. If you know who has guts, you know who is worth training.'  
Tezuka bowed. 'I look forward to what you have to show us, Poppy-sensai.'

They both surveyed the courts for a moment more, before Tezuka called the practise to an end. All the members lined up to listen to their captain.  
'_That was good work everyone, thank you. Regulars, we have an additonal practise which will be led by Poppy-sensai. It will be held at 10am Sunday morning, at the university gymnasium across town. Tomorrow I will give you a map._' The regulars looked at each other and then at Poppy who, guessing the topic at hand, developed a sudden interest in her nails.  
'_10 am Sunday_!' sighed Momoshiro.  
'_Quiet_!' said Tezuka forcefully.  
' _Yeah, don't complain! At least you get time with the cutie_!' said a voice at the back.  
'_Twenty laps! All of you_!' said Tezuka  
'_Awww, dammit_' said Arai '_You've upset Tezuka-buchou by hitting on his girlfriend. That's what you said in the cafeteria, earlier, right Momo-senpai_?'  
Tezuka's eyes narrowed dangerously  
'_Fifty laps! Go_!'  
Poppy watched this exchange with some suprise. She thought the practise had ended but apparently they were going to run a marathon or something first.  
Tezuka turned to her and bowed 'I must apologise for my team.'  
She reached out and lightly touched his hand 'I didn't understand a word of what went on other than Momo-kun's mouth is too big. I am not upset by anything. Besides they're just kids.'  
Tezuka bowed again 'Thank you'. As he did so he was aware that something about what Poppy had just said had bothered him but he couldn't put his finger on what.  
'I am going to join them running now,' he said.  
'You join in with punishments you set?' she asked.  
'If the whole team is involved I must count myself among them.'  
'Very astute.' she replied, gathering up her belongings. 'A true captain.' She smiled, turning towards the changing room as he went to encourage the first-years straggling at the back.

Once inside, she took her time sorting out her notes and refiling bits she had taken out to review, before stripping down and heading for the shower area.  
'Long hair is always such a pain to wash,' she mumbled to herself wondering once again why she didn't get it cut into a style that didn't take so long to rinse and style.She was lost in thought, only vaguely registering other people coming into the changing room. Kikamaru Eiji was the first to realise there was an issue. He bounced into the changing room, half singing a J-pop song to himself, and grabbed his towel. He would be grateful for rinsing off the sweat from his body. Running was not his favourite activity by any means. Stepping into the showering area he froze, aware that someone he didn't know was there and that someone had long blonde hair.  
He quietly backed away and headed the other regulars off at the door.  
'_Nya! Ochibi_!' he whispered '_Your girlfriend is in the showers!_'  
'_She's not my girlfriend ... wait, what_?' Ryoma replayed the sentence before sighing '_Sakuno-kun._'  
'_What_?' asked Momo '_Is she in there too_?'  
'_No, no. Ryzukai-sensai asked Sakuno-kun to show Poppy where the girls' changing room is. She isn't very good at directions_,' he finished recalling the first time he had met the girl and how it had let to him being late and defaulting for a tournament.  
'_What can we do, nya_?' asked Eiji '_We can't go in, but ..._'  
Tezuka arrived at the door. '_What is the problem_?'  
'_Poppy-sensai is in our shower_.' replied Echizen simply.  
The captain looked confsued for a second before reconciling the issue in his head. '_Well, you'll have to go in and let her know her mistake. You know her best_.'  
The freshman was sorely tempted to reply that Tezuka had spent longest talking to her but he knew better than that. Eiji and Momo pushed him into the changing room and then pressed their heads against the door, listening intently, closely followed by Inui muttering about gathering data.

'Poppy? Poppy?' the boy called.  
'Hmm, what? Ryoma, what are you doing ... oh!'  
Poppy looked out of the shower, to see Ryoma stood there with his cap pulled right over his face.  
'Erm, what's going on?' she asked switching the shower off and grabbing a towel.  
'You're in the boys changing room.'  
'Oh Geez. I'm so sorry. I didn't know. No-one was in here when I arrived. Did I scare anyone?'  
'I think Eiji saw you but I don't think scared was the right word for his reaction.'  
Poppy frowned slightly.  
'Oh well. Listen, tell everyone I'm sorry and I'll be right out of the way in 2 minutes, okay?'  
'Sure'  
'I have a towel round me now. You can put your cap back on.'  
''Kay'  
She smiled a little as the teenager pulled his cap back on his head and gave her a short appraising look. She lent forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.  
'You are too cute, kiddo.'  
'Hmph.'  
Blushing he left the changing room. Poppy could hear the commotion as he exited.  
'_Ochibi! You're blushing!_'  
_'Oh, to be young! To be young!'_  
_'Ochibi has a girlfriend!'_  
_'She's 23! She's not my girlfriend!'_

Less than a minute later she stepped outside to be greeted by giggles and cheers as the boys filed in for their showers.  
'_Gomen! Gomen_' she said and then she turned to Eiji 'Sorry! Sorry if I scared you!'  
'Nya, it's fine!'  
'We're going to eat sushi' Ryoma said flatly 'After we've got changed. You know, if you're done now.'  
'Oh, sure, okay. I haven't had sushi here yet.'  
'Taka's father makes it. It's good.'  
'Well, I'll wait here.'  
Poppy passed the time by plaiting her hair and pinning it up into what she hoped was a neat style. She thought about the people she had met and how kind and tolerant Ryoma had been with her all day.  
He's a good kid, she thought, Although maybe he lets more of that show when he's speaking English with me and he knows not many people know what he's saying.


	2. Chapter 2

Eventually everyone was gathered outside the clubhouse and started to walk out of the school grounds. Fuji and Eiji spent their time teaching Poppy Japanese pop songs and she taught them English songs in return. Eiji showed her a magazine of his favourite music, enthusing over the cuteness of various girl bands. They asked what sports she played and she explained that since university she hadn't had much time for serious sport, other than lacrosse for a college team. Fuji and Eiji were delighted to hear about lacrosse especially because it involved some very funny miming to explain how the game worked. Poppy smiled 'I do have one other interest but I'll save that for Sunday.'  
'Nya! I want to know!' pouted Eiji.  
'_All in good time,_' said Fuji to his classmate '_I like mysterious girls._' He smiled sweetly at Poppy who couldn't help but return the look. Eiji giggled as they arrived at the sushi restaurant. Trust Fuji to charm a lady just by smiling at her.

'_Welcome! Welcome!_' said Kawamura-San, in a scary English accent reminscient of his son. 'My son says we have English guest?'  
Poppy nodded meekly, taking her shoes off before being bodily propelled in by Momo who was talking about all kinds of sushi very rapidly.  
She sat crosslegged at a table as platters were brought out for everyone. Most things she recognised and tucked in happily. Some others took some persuading. Finally, she noticed Fuji sat quietly with his own platter. He smiled and offered her a roll. As she went to pop it into her mouth she noticed everything around her go very quiet. She pulled it away back into her line of vision and looked at it carefully.  
'Wasabi?' she asked warily.  
'_Hai!_' he smiled. She shrugged and took half-a-bite and then finished it off, before drinking a whole glass of water.  
'Why do you want to eat something that hurts so bad?' she asked, taking some deep breaths.  
Ryoma looked up. 'Because Fuji-senpai is a serious nutcase.' That made Poppy laugh so hard she nearly choked.

Momo asked something in Japanese to the freshman who sighed and rolled his eyes.  
'Poppy, they want to know why you're here in Japan and at our school.'  
'Will you translate for me?'  
'If I have to.'  
Aware that Tezuka was there to stay off any purposeful mistranslation on Ryoma's part. Poppy began to relate what she had told the captain earlier about her stay. The team seemed genuinely excited by the prospect of training with her observations which pleased her. Inui was already taking copious notes in his notebook.  
'Hoi hoi! Poppysensei-chan, we should do something for you too!' cried Eiji.  
'Well, be on time for training on Sunday'  
'_Ochibi! She's talking about you!_'  
'And help me improve my Japanese.' she finished, picking up a rather shiny piece of sushi and eyeing it suspiciously.

Just as she said that, Kawamurua-San approached with a glass of drink for her.  
'_Poppy-sensei, our best Nihonshu._'  
'Oh, erm, wow. Thanks.' the blonde girl eyed up the glass. Sake, hmm. She took a large sip.  
'_Oosihi desu_'  
The sushi chef beamed.  
Poppy took another sip. This was clearly strong stuff, which the guy seemed determined to keep her topped up on by the looks of the bottle perched on the counter.  
She continued to watch the chatter about her, thinking about how she must find a gift to thank Ryoma for his patience with her, slowly sipping on the sake. She was aware she was still pretty jetlagged, although less aware that she had spent the last 4 days just nibbling on unfamiliar food, and slowly she became aware that she was a bit tipsy. Given she was in the company of junior high students she was also aware this wasn't a great idea, as nice as it felt. Fuji sat opposite her, Oishi diagonally opposite and Tezuka to her left. The four of them were able to have a reasonable conversation about the upcoming exams at school in English as Tezuka patiently translated back and forth any misunderstandings, with Poppy able to describe the sets of examinations she had sat through over the years. She explained she had a bacheolor's degree and was now studying for a masters, and thus had completed one set of university finals already. Ryoma came and sat down next to her, talking over her shoulder to Momo and Eiji.

Poppy realised she hadn't felt this relaxed in a while. Her studies were pretty demanding and it was nice to leave the 'grown up' world for a while and appreciate the age where school, sport and budding relationships were your greatest worries. She was brought out of her thoughts by Fuji asking about her family back home.  
'Oh, I have a younger brother still in school. My mum and dad live some way from my university town but I see them every few months.'  
'What is your town like?'  
Poppy reached into her bag and got out a small photo album, flicking through to find her starting point.  
'This is my college, with my room in it.'  
'_Wow! It's like a castle!_' said Eiji looking over Oishi's shoulders. Suddenly Poppy had a crowd. Ryoma translated what Eiji had said and she nodded.  
They flicked through the pictures of people rowing on little boats, Poppy's graduation, sports teams and people in fancy dress, the gorgeous chapel.  
'This is where the famous carol service is held every Christmas. It's broadcast all over the world.'  
The group continued to chatter and point out things in the photos, paying close attention to a photo of the university tennis team with Kaidoh and Momo picking out which of the men they felt they could beat based on stature.  
'Poppysensai-chan, have you been to Wimbledon?' asked Eiji.  
Ryoma looked up from where he had been studying a picture from the small album.  
'_Eiji-sempai_'. He put his finger to his lips.  
Eiji leaned over to find Poppy sleeping peacefully, head on the freshman's lap.  
'_That's probably a sign we should go_,' grinned Momo. '_Come on, I'll help you walk her back_.'  
He scooped up the doll-like student.  
'_Man, she weighs nothing_!' he said '_I'll just carry her until she wakes. You wheel my bike._'

Saying thankyou and goodbye to the Kawamuras, the regulars left with Momo carrying Poppy. They each went their seperate way to go home. With Eiji crying '_Kawaii! Kawaii!_' to Momo's retreating back and Fuji taking a couple of photographs for good measure. Tezuka frowned slightly but said nothing instead turning to Echizen and Momo. '_Take care of her_.'  
'_Hai_!' they replied, setting off towards their neighbourhood.  
'_She must be tired from travelling_' said Momo looking down at the girl still soundly asleep in his arms.  
'_Yeah. My cousin says she has to work hard for her course too_.' agreed Echizen.  
They walked in silence apart from the odd squeak from the bicycle Ryoma wheeled until they got to the Echizen residence.  
'_Hmm_.' Ryoma considered his options. He didn't really want Momo to come face to face with his father but neither did he want to wake Poppy. Thankfully, he was saved by Nanako coming to the door and seeing Poppy sound asleep.  
'_Poor girl! Let's carry her inside between us, Ryoma-san_.'  
The seventh grader leaned his friend's bike by the wall.  
'_Night, Momo-sempai_' he said taking the girl's upper body and his cousin taking her legs. Ryoma had to agree with Momo's assessment. The girl was incredibly light for her size and he vaguely wondered why.  
'_Night, Echizen! Don't be late for practise tomorrow._'  
'_Bye_' the younger boy called vaguely.  
He and his cousin took Poppy into the room where she was staying and put her into bed. She rolled over into a comfortable position, muttering a few words in English before sighing deeply into sleep.  
Nanako flicked off the light and looked over to Ryoma now kicking off his shoes and putting them by the door  
'_Whatever have you boys been doing with her_?' she asked with a broad smile.  
'_Just tennis stuff_.' Ryoma replied, heading to the kitchen for milk.  
'_Hey boy!_' his father was sat by the opening to the garden '_How are you finding our guest? Are you looking after her?_'  
'_Uisu_.'  
'_Fancy a match before bed? I'll give you a handicap_.'  
'_Can't. I have homework_.'  
'_Shame, shame. I'd have played with one leg if it had helped_.'  
'_Che.Whatever._'

Ryoma took the milk to his room and looked over his maths assigment. His mind kept wandering to the events of the day though. He looked at the clock. 10.30pm. Time for bed if he wasn't going to miss practise the next day. A thought occured to him and he stepped out of his room to find his cousin in the hallway heading to the bathroom,  
'_Is Poppy going to be at school tomorrow?_' he asked.  
'_No, not tomorrow. She will on Friday though. I don't know if she plans on going to your practise tomorrow afternoon though.'__  
'Okay. Night'__  
'Night, Ryoma-san._'  
Ryoma got changed for bed and went to brush his teeth, Karupin trotting behind him and meowing at the bathroom door before Ryoma left and headed to his room. He put his head around the room where Poppy was sleeping to see his cousin had carefully unpinned her friend's hair, now laying in a mass of shiny curls. Pale, and lit only be the moonlight from the window, with her hair around her face Ryoma remembered how light Poppy was. She now looked more doll-like than ever. An English word occurred to him as he looked at her. Fragile. He frowned slightly, remembering that he had left the exchange student's bag by the front door. He went to retrieve it and dropped it off just inside her room, amazed at how heavy it was. He peeked inside, there were 3 heavy textbooks and at least a half-a-dozen notebooks. She's stronger than she looks, he thought. Just then something shiny caught his eye. A medal, a junior world silver in trampolining hung on a thick blue ribbon, was tucked into the pocket of the bag.  
'Jumping.' he said to himself, pulling the door to. '_Sunday will be interesting after all_'.

The following day, Thursday, passed with little to note for Echizen bar his team mates enquiring at morning practise where the exchange student was.  
'_Don't know. She might be in later_' was all he would say in reply. He recalled she had been sunny and happy at breakfast, apologising for falling asleep and giggling as Ryoma and Nanako related the way they had carried her into the house, but as he was leaving for practise he heard the student say to his cousin that she would be studying in the university library for most of the day as she had a report to file soon.

Poppy did come to their afternoon practise but she remained in her normal clothes and stayed on the sidelines with the coach, watching the second-years play.  
'_Nya! Why isn't she watching us, ochibi_?' cried a disappointed Eiji  
'_You probably scarred her for life in the showers yesterday_' teased Fuji  
'_No fair, nya_!'  
The regulars soon forgot the presence of the college student though, practicing hard for the upcoming tournament. They watched each other carefully and tried exercises to test their agility with ankle and wrist weights.  
Tezuka and Ryoma worked together as a doubles team attempting to get 5 points against their team mates. This exercise continued for a while, long enough for Poppy to walk around the perimeter to watch. Tezuka noted her presence seemed to spur his team on further, especially Eiji who tried increasingly daring and acrobatic jumps, but she seemed to be only half-watching making endless notes in her notebook and taking photos of the court and facilities.  
'_Tezuka? Tezuka? Are you okay_?' Tezuka focussed on Oishi's worried face.  
'_Um, yes. Thankyou._'  
'_I was just saying we should call practice to an end, unless there is something else you need to do_?'  
Tezuka realised he must have been watching Poppy longer than he thought. He frowned.  
Oishi gathered people around to stand in formation.  
'_Thank you everyone for a good practise. Regulars please collect a map from me as to where Sunday's activities are taking place. Good bye._' the captain shuffled the papers in his hand.  
'_Good work everyone_!' came the chorused reply.

Poppy sat on a bench and waited for Ryoma to appear. Momo, Eiji and Ryoma all came out together with the senior looking pained and the other two looking devilish.  
Momo called out '_Poppy-chan! Do you like burgers_?'  
She looked up, furrowing her brow as she attempted to translate.  
'_Hai, Su kii desu_.' she replied slowly.  
'Great,' said Ryoma 'Eiji-senpai definitely won't refuse if you're with us.' he grinned  
'Oh, you cheeky monkeys!' Poppy smiled 'Okay then. Burgers it is.'  
'Yay!' cried Eiji jumping on her back to give her a crushing hug.  
'Geez. What do you weigh, elephant?' the student said dropping her bag under the weight. Momo picked it up.  
'_Argh, heavy_!'  
Ryoma pulled his cap down and smirked. '_I picked it up yesterday. I brought it back on the bike and didn't realise it was so heavy until I brought it into the house_'  
'_She must have half a library in there_!_She must do!_' Momo exclaimed, hoisting it over his racket bag.  
'_Something like that ..._'  
The pair of them stopped and watched the scene unfolding in front of them. Now she had a good grip around Eiji's legs, Poppy was walking a good distance away from them with him.  
_'How is she doing that? He must weigh more than her ..._' Momo said in a low voice.  
'_Muscle mass_'  
Both of them jumped to find Inui behind them, pushing up his glasses. The rest of the regulars had followed behind and were watching Eiji and Poppy exchanging piggy backs.  
Fuji smiled. '_She has spent a long time stretching and working those muscles. Longer than any of us have been alive_'.  
'_Yes_,' Inui confirmed '_I would say there is an 85 chance she has been a gymnast of some sort from an early age._'  
Ryoma recalled the medal he had found in her bag.  
'_Yep_.' he confirmed '_I'm guessing we will found out more on Sunday_.'  
'_She's full of mystery_.' said Momo with admiration. Just then his stomach growled. '_Wish I was full of burgers though_.'

Waving good bye to the rest of the group at the gates Eiji, Momo, Ryoma and Poppy headed for the local fast food joint.  
'Do you eat burgers at home?' Eiji asked Poppy. She considered the question 'They are popular but I have never eaten them much. I like them though.' she said pushing open the door of the restaurant.  
'_Ah, senpai's treat, yes_?' asked Ryoma slyly.  
'_Okay, okay. Just don't bankrupt me. I don't get my allowance for another week_!'  
Poppy watched this exchange as Eiji take out his wallet. She patted his hand.  
'I'll buy them' she said.  
'Yay!' said Momo '_Burgers all round_!'  
As the girl at the counter took an order that seemed to stretch on for eternity from Momo, Poppy assessed the menu, ordering a milkshake and a single burger before handing over her card. She signed off the receipt and looked at Ryoma.  
'I'm so glad I can't make rapid Yen to stirling conversions, ' she said rolling her eyes at the size of the order being prepared for them. 'I suspect that was equivalent to my airfare.'  
Ryoma grinned. 'You offered!'

They took their trays over to a table and Momo began unwrapping his mountain of burgers. He stopped for a moment and looked at Poppy's small shake and burger.  
'_Is that all you ordered_?' he asked in disbelief.  
Ryoma looked at the tray. 'I think he means that you aren't eating a lot.'  
'Oh well. I'm still adjusting to food here and ... oh, I'll tell you later. It's fine.'  
Ryoma studied her for a moment before turning to Momo '_She says mind your own business and eat it before it gets cold_.'  
Momo grinned and continued to tuck in.  
'Poppysenpai-chan, is your work hard?' Eiji asked looking over the notebooks Poppy was rearranging in her bag.  
'Hard? Sometimes. My course has a lot of work.'  
'You must relax though?'  
The college student seemed to become even more intent on digging through her bag.  
'Oh yeah, sure. I, er, go out with friends.'  
'Do you have a boyfriend at home?'  
'Er, no. Not right now.'  
Ryoma looked at Eiji wondering where this conversation was going. Even Momo's eating had slowed to a considered pace to hear what was going to happen next.  
'Aww, that's sad. Maybe Ochibi can be your boyfriend?' Eiji grinned  
'Shut up, Eiji-sempai!' the freshman pulled at his fringe  
Poppy smiled a little and looked up at the freshman fuming in front of her.  
'I think Ryoma-chan probably deserves a girlfriend with more time than I have.' she said reaching over and ruffling his hair. She sipped the remainder of her drink.  
'I really need to be getting back,' she said as Ryoma finished his meal, 'I'm helping with a literature class tomorrow.' She looked at her diary.  
'3rd year, class 2. Anyone you know?'  
'_Hai!_ Oishi-kun and Tezuka-buchou are in that class.' confirmed Eiji.  
Ryoma stood up and pushed his chair underneath  
'_Catch you later_.' he said, to Eiji and Momo.  
'Bye, Poppysensai-chan, Bye, Ochibi!' said Eiji, waving. Momo, with a mouthful of burger, gave a big grin and waved at the pair heading out of the door.  
'_Hmm, Ochibi gets all the cute girls._' said Eiji wistfully '_Maybe, I should start wearing a cap and being rude too_?'

Poppy and Ryoma caught a bus to go back to his house. As she sank gratefully into the seat she looked at him fiddling with his tennis bag and pulling out a magazine.  
'How was your practise?'  
'Okay.'  
'Do you like your team?'  
Ryoma considered this. 'Yeah, they're alright. Their tennis is improving.'  
Poppy smiled and looked out of the window. It had begun to rain softening the view out into the Tokyo suburbs.  
'Rain. Ugh. I could get this back home, y'know. Much cheaper.'  
'It rains a lot here in Tokyo. Not good for tennis.'  
Just then Ryoma's phone began to ring in his bag. He pulled it out and answered  
'Fuji-sempai?'  
They seem a close-knit gang, thought Poppy as she listened to Echizen speak rapid Japanese into his phone, punctuated with an occasional snigger.  
Ryoma rung off. 'That was Fuji,' he confirmed 'he wondered if you would like to play tennis with him and Eiji after practise tomorrow.'  
'Oh, well. Sure. But I can't play.'  
'They want to teach you.'  
She smiled. 'Well, okay then. But only if you come too.'  
Ryoma looked up, straight into the gaze of his companion.  
'Of course. I'll be bringing the video camera.' he smirked.  
She laughed and swatted his head 'Cheeky! Aren't you meant to respect your elders?'  
He responded by phoning Fuji back, deliberately speaking in English 'She says yes, she'll take you all on and thrash you in straight sets. No she has never played before. That's the low opinion of you she has'. Poppy was left yelling 'not true! not true!' in the background as Ryoma continued in Japanese, until he rang off and pressed the bell for their stop.  
She followed the boy off the bus and headed up the hill for the house.  
'What are you doing tonight?' the blonde girl asked him.  
'Homework. Might play my dad.'  
'Is he good?' Poppy asked innocuously.  
Ryoma snorted 'Good enough to beat me every day.'  
'Really? I guess that's where your natural talent comes from'.  
'Nah, I got mine with tokens off a cereal packet.'  
Poppy giggled. 'I don't know what you're like in Japanese but you're funny in English.'  
Ryoma pushed open the gate to his house and stepped inside, the exchange student just behind.

Ryoma's evening went as he had expected. A labourious and dull maths assignment with an embarrassingly easy English quiz to follow and a match against his father where his old man irritated him even more by asking questions about Poppy then he did by not playing seriously.  
'_Maybe we could set you up for marriage_?'  
'_I'm 13_.'  
'_Soon you'll be cursing the missed opportunity of a beautiful unattached woman in the house_'  
'_I'm not you, dad. Besides how do you know she's unattached_?'  
'_Ah, interested are you? Well, it was one of the first things I checked when Nanako asked if she could stay_.'  
Ryoma rolled his eyes and concentrated on trying to get a few points past his father. It didn't work. After the game ended and his father went up to bed, Ryoma went to the kitchen to collect his milk.  
Nanako and Poppy were there  
'...don't stay up too late working. We have lots of shopping to do on Saturday. I can't wait to show you around when I'm finally free of classes.' Nanako smiled.  
'I won't, I promise. Just need to read through this report and then I can send it tomorrow.' Poppy replied patting a pile of papers that looked to be half-an-inch thick by Ryoma's estimation.  
'Okay then, good night. Night Ryoma-san.' his cousin patted him on the shoulder as she walked past.  
'Night.'  
Poppy looked up. 'More milk? You should keep a cow out the back'  
Ryoma got another bottle out. 'You should have one too. You're too light'.  
Poppy smiled wanly. 'You're right.' she opened the top and began to drink it.  
'Inui thinks you're a gymnast.'  
'The tall guy with the glasses?'  
Ryoma nodded.  
'Well, he's mostly right. I was a gymnast for a long time, in the end I finished as a trampolinist. I was pretty good too. But I retired 4 months ago.'  
'Retired?'  
'Yeah, 23 isn't a bad age for retirement. I could have maybe pushed it for another year but there are no major competitions to work towards now so I picked my degree and career instead. We aren't like tennis players, you know. Our knees give out much quicker. As a gymnast you reach the peak of your career and abilities age around 18 or 20, just when most sports people seriously get going.' The English girl smiled. 'Maybe I picked the wrong sport. The prize money is better in tennis, for sure!'  
She looked at the milk in her hand. 'I'm still adjusting my calorie intake. I used to eat loads all the time, knowing I'd burn it away in training but my metabolism isn't the same now and I know my muscles aren't going to be as strong as they were. That's why I'm so light though. It's a requirement for being small and springy.'

Ryoma thought about not playing tennis. 'I can't imagine retiring from something you're still good at'  
Poppy sighed and looked at him. 'It's heartwrenching. I still join my trampoline club friends and I'll probably train kids back home as a hobby but its never the same. That's why you have to commit yourself to things without regrets. Everything comes to an end one day and you only ever want happy memories of trying your best. I never won everything I entered but I remember trying hard each time and trying to learn from everyone around me.'  
'Is it hard losing in a competition?'  
Poppy looked at the boy in front of her and wondered how honestly she should answer him. She sighed again, opting for full disclosure.  
'Yes. It really hurts. Sometimes it feels like you've been kicked, especially in a sport where judges make the decisions about deductions, and you just never want to get up and do it again. But you gather up your kit and the next day you go back to training because it's what you do.' Ryoma thought for one horrible moment that she might start crying but instead she breathed out slowly and looked up with a big smile before glancing at her watch. 'Oh, my. It's nearly eleven. I need my beauty sleep.' She stood up, gathered together her papers and leaned over, kissing him gently on the cheek before he could swat her away.  
'I'll see you tomorrow morning.' she said, leaving the freshman behind with his hand still on the fridge.  
'Bye' Ryoma said absently, finishing his milk while thinking about the conversation he had just had. He picked up Karupin's toy mouse from the floor and took it up to his room.


	3. Chapter 3

Momoshiro called for Ryoma as usual the next morning and was delighted to find his best friend's housemate was also walking with them to school. The student seemed a little more relaxed today and she carried a different padded bag and just one notebook. He invited her to perch on his bike seat and wheeled her to school, as she sat side-saddle, chatting to both of them in English and her broken Japanese. Momoshiro and Echizen taught her all the best swear words they knew and she reciprocated in turn, although she found that Ryoma was more than willing to give his personal favourites in English too. Wheeling towards the school, they bumped into Fuji and Eiji walking together, so as all five of them reached the gate Poppy gently jumped off the bike and left them as they went to change for morning practise.  
'Hey, Poppysensai-chan!' called Eiji pouting 'Stay, please nya?!'  
'Okay, I'll be back soon.' she smiled.  
She wandered over to the courts and let herself in, once the boys had gone into their clubhouse, before undoing her bag and perching on a bench.  
'Perfect weather for some pictures' she said to herself, taking her camera out. She clipped her long zoom lens to the front and tested the white balance. This, more than gymnastics or trampolining or casual mixed lacrosse, was her hobby. She loved competing and loved trained but photography was what she did truly for fun, with no competition or compulsion involved. 'Maybe I'll find a new lens tomorrow' she thought, pondering her trip into central Tokyo with Nanako tomorrow. Friends had already told her about Akihabara - or at least warned her not to take her credit card - and she thought a new wide angle glass might be a nice momento of her trip.

She was jolted from her idle clicks and checks from Eiji crying '_Hoi! Fujiko, come see what Poppysensai-chan has_!'  
Fuji came over almost as fast as Eiji, so she guessed he must also like photography.  
'Wow, Poppysensai-chan! You like photos too?' asked Eiji excitedly 'Fuji-kun is a great photo taker!'  
She looked to Fuji who was already peering at the camera with an even brighter smile than usual.  
'Oh, well, would you like to try it out, Fuji-kun?' she asked as she passed the camera over.  
Fuji nodded fervently and immediately started clicking and altering the shutter speed, analysing his shots on the preview screen. Eiji started doing acrobatics for the camera, with Fuji clicking furiously to capture them. Slowly, the rest of the team came out and started to warm up or muck about and Fuji started taking some shots of them too.  
He turned back to Poppy. 'It's a lovely camera. Do you have other lenses?'  
'I have some more at home. I only brought three with me but I may get another one tomorrow. You like photography, then?'  
'Yes, I'm thinking about becoming a professional photographer after I finish school.'  
'Not a tennis champion?' she asked, raising an eyebrow. She had already seen how gifted he was.  
'I thought I might just do both and see how that works out for me. Perhaps with some architecture as well.' he smiled lightly. Poppy gave a small smile in return, reflecting silently on how in junior high you can still take on the world.  
'I've no doubt you will.' she said, taking posession of her camera once again. 'Now, go warm up before Tezuka-buchou gives me laps for distracting you.'  
'_Hai, Poppy-sensai. Arigatou_.' the slender boy bowed before going to join his teammates.  
Poppy quickly flicked through the shots on her camera. There were some shots that really captured the spirit and personality of the Seigaku team, well-composed, interesting and artistic.  
'_Tensai_ indeed.' she muttered to herself, turning to see the captain and coach enter the courts and practice proper begin.  
Poppy greeted them both with a smile and a nod and set herself up to take shots of the practice exercises.

Tezuka felt distracted that morning. He would never let it show, of course, but his thoughts were on the girl taking photographs rather than who she was taking photographs of. That in itself troubled him. Perhaps she was too much of a distraction to have on the court but, he realised a touch sourly, no-one else seemed to be having trouble concentrating. Throughout his internal monologue he had been automatically returning shots from Oishi without too much consideration for his opponent, hitting them back wherever felt most comfortable. Only when a ball wasn't returned did he focus back on his vice-captain who was talking to him from over the net.  
'_Tezuka? Are you okay? That was out_.' It was charming that Oishi seemed to think that Tezuka hitting a ball out constituted a cause for concern but Tezuka knew it wasn't a physical condition that caused this lack of form. His eyes glanced over unbidden to the student taking pictures of Echizen serving.  
'_Oh, er, are you concerned about being photographed_?' asked Oishi slowly, clearly trying to fathom his captain's reasons for being even more reticent than usual.  
Tezuka shut his eyes momentarily and then refocussed on his vice-captain.  
'_I'm going to serve_' is all he said in reply, bouncing the ball once before providing a blistering reason for Oishi to forget his line of questioning.  
Ryoma, however, had taken the whole scene in. His captain didn't fault unless there was a good reason.

Momo, Kawamura and Inui were all gathered around Poppy as she showed them the shots she had taken on her camera. She had deliberately stood a long way back and used her zoom to focus on particular muscles and motions through Ryoma's serve. Inui in particular mumbled about nothing Poppy could make out as he scribbled furiously in his notebook.  
'_Echizen, you should check these out. They're great_!' called Momoshiro over the net, to where the freshman stood paddling a ball in a bored manner. The shorter player just shrugged and turned to watch Tezuka hitting balls to Oishi and Kaidoh firing shots at terrified second-years until the other regulars had sneakily reassembled on the opposite side of the net, Eiji and Fuji included. Echizen turned back.  
'5 on 1! GREAT-O!' cried Kawamura.  
Poppy got some great shots of Ryoma being pelted with high speed balls.

Practice ended soon after. Poppy packed up her camera and checked her diary. She had a class with the third year in the same room as yesterday and was just wondering if she was confident enough of her bearings to find it on her own when Eiji, Fuji and Oishi left the clubhouse, Eiji calling frantically after her.  
'Hoi Hoi! Poppysensai-chan! Don't forget. Tennis. Me and Fuji tonight!' he beamed, bounding over with Fuji following.  
'I'm looking forward to it. Oh, Oishi-kun' she continued as the vice-captain joined them 'I'm to take a lesson with your class now.'  
'My class?' Oishi's English wasn't quite as good as the other third years but she appreciated his effort to speak her language.  
'Yes, let's walk there.' she made a walking motion with her fingers.  
'Oh, _hai_!' he replied catching her meaning.

In the clubhouse, Ryoma was just pulling on his school jacket as Tezuka was adding a notice to the club notice board.  
Ryoma looked around to see who was in the room and decided to chance his luck that Kaidoh, Inui, Momo and the first years weren't going to understand his meaning.  
'_Buchou_.'  
'_What is it Echizen_?'  
'_Poppy-san tells me that your English comprehension is really good_.' he looked steadfastly to the side of his captain.  
'_Um. Tell her thank you from me_.' Ryoma noticed his captain blush just a little.  
'_You could tell her yourself_,' Ryoma smirked pulling down his cap '_She's teaching your class next_.'  
'_I see_.' Tezuka pushed the thumbtack in just a little harder than might have been necessary and turned to pick up his bag. '_I will go now. I don't want to be late_.' the third year said, not quite meeting the eye of the freshman. Ryoma appraised him for half-a-second before saying again '_Buchou_.'  
This time Tezuka met his eye evenly. The freshman abruptly switched to English 'She has a lot to teach our team. I think you like her even though you know that she is too old to be with you. Don't let those feelings ruin this opportunity or make you shy away from her.'

Tezuka let a whole three seconds of silence lapse before he replied stiffly with '_Hai_' and turned for the door, leaving a silent and watchful clubhouse in his wake. He had always suspected that Ryoma had a lot of thoughts about his sempais that he generally kept to himself so perhaps this outpouring was not as un-Echizen like as it seemed. It was the fact Echizen said something about it to him that suggested the first year felt his assessment of Tezuka was acutely accurate.  
Ryoma turned back to packing his own bag as Momo came over saying '_Oi, Echizen! What were you and buchou talking in English for?! And what about_?'  
Ryoma smirked and tucked his cap into his bag before replying '_Mada mada dane_.' He made to leave, with the second year hurriedly gathering his stuff to follow.  
'_Oi, wait up! ECHIZEN! ECHI-ZEEEEEEN_!'

Poppy arrived in the classroom with Oishi well before the bell and greeted the teacher, Ms. Powell, in English. Ms.Powell was from Scotland and a vivacious forty-something lady that reminded Poppy of some of her own school tutors in years past. Ms.Powell explained that Poppy was going to take a splinter group of the class, the six best students in fact, and do some extension work with them before setting them homework. Slowly the class members came in and took their seats. Right as the bell rang there was a flurry of activity in the hallway and the last students came in. Poppy was aware of this because the teacher closed the door but she was too absorbed in the notes about the extension work she was to lead to take in who they were.

'Good morning class.' began Ms.Powell  
'Good morning, Ms.Powell' chanted the class  
'Thank you. Okay then, this morning we are going to divide into several groups for discussion and vocabulary practise. Before that I would like to introduce to you our student teacher, Poppy. She is a university student from England. Please make her feel welcome. Say good morning.'  
'Good morning, Poppy,' said the class as one.  
Poppy stood and smiled at the class, catching Oishi's eye who beamed at her.  
'Good morning everyone. I am so glad to be here at Seishun Academy. You have made me feel very welcome.'  
'Okay then, the groups will be as follows ...'  
Ms Powell read out reams of names that Poppy had trouble following but soon the class was forming into seperate circles, with much scraping of chairs and hefting of bags. The teacher turned to Poppy.  
'There is an empty classroom across the way, you'll find it easier if you take your class there. Just come back before the break bell rings and pop over if you have any trouble. Have fun!' she grinned. turning to class at large she said 'Group one, follow Poppy-sensai please.'

Poppy pushed the door open and leaned againt the door opposite to hold it for her group of students. They filed in, four girls and two boys, the last of which Poppy noted was Tezuka. She indicated they should sit and she herself perched on top of the desk at the front of the class.

'Hi everyone! I'll tell you right now my Japanese is not good, so it'll have to be all English today but don't worry it's a fun activity. Ms.Powell wants you to work on your conversational skills today. I have a set of question cards and you'll get one at random. You ask me the question and I'll answer it and then you can ask another of your choice. Any words you don't recognise we can talk about, okay?'  
Everyone nodded with different degrees of confidence, so the student passed out the cards.  
'Oh another thing, just before your question, please introduce yourself. Okay then, er, you ...' Poppy pointed to a petite girl who wore an alice band and a sweet smile.  
She introduced herself and then looked at her card 'Hm. What is your favourite animal?'  
Poppy pondered for a second 'Back home, I have two cats I am very fond of. Their names are Emily and Madeleine. I also like penguins,' -at this she waddled like the flightless bird, to shy giggles - 'elephants' - more miming - 'and , ummm, ducks! Quack, quack!' This was a good ice-breaker question, she thought, as the students seemed more relaxed all except Tezuka who seemed as stoic as ever.  
'So,' she turned back to the girl 'anything else you want to ask?'  
'Well,' giggled the petite girl looking to her friend, 'Do you have a boyfriend?'  
The other boy in the class groaned and rolled his eyes theatrically while Tezuka sighed a little nasally and looked to the girl, as if he wanted to say something but not able to bring the correct words to his mouth.  
'You get straight to the point, don't you?' said the blonde student, smiling a little. 'Well, as you asked, I shall tell you. No, I don't. Sorry!'  
'Why?' asked the girl 'I think you are pretty. You will make a nice girlfriend.'  
'Thank you.' said Poppy, pretending to go shy. 'I just haven't met Mr. Right.'  
'Mister Right?' repeated one of the other girls, confused.  
'Yes, the right boy for me. Mr.Right' clarified the English girl. 'What about you girls? Any boyfriends?' All four of them shook their heads giggling.  
'We are all single girls together then.' said Poppy, winking. She turned to the boys.

'Okay then, Tezuka-kun, we have already met on the tennis courts so you don't need to introduce yourself again. Oh, except...' Poppy stopped for half-a-second and racked her brains. 'No, I definitely don't know your first name and as you all know in English using the first name in conversation with your peers is more usual. So, tell me your first name and then ask your question.'  
The tennis team captain took a breath in and leaned back 'My name is Kunimitsu Tezuka. My question is, er' he looked down to his card ' what is your favourite book?'  
'Ooh, that's difficult. I mean it is hard to choose. I like so many. I think my all time favourite is 'Alice in Wonderland'. Do you know of it?'  
There was a mixture of nods and blank looks. 'It is a children's story but the imagery is so vivid it stays with you.'  
Tezuka frowned a little and repeated 'vivid?', pen in hand to take notes.  
'Oh yes, hmm, how to explain ...? I know. The places and things the writer writes about create bright colourful pictures in your head.' Poppy pointed to her temple 'And they stay there. You remember them.'  
A collective 'aah' came from the class.

'And what is your other question, Kunimitsu?' she looked at the captain and smiled. He paused and for a moment, more than ever, he looked as wise a man as she had ever met - not just a junior high student - and she slightly bit her lip. He is still just 15, she thought, but he seems to be more mature than most of the guys I meet. Just my luck.  
' How do you spend your free time?'  
She was aware that she hadn't quite taken in what the third year had said and rewound it. He didn't seem the sort of kid that ever wasted time on being free. Maybe he was looking for advice. She smiled inwardly, 'Wrong person to ask' she thought.  
'Gosh. Let me think. I like reading and playing lacrosse. I enjoy listening to music. My favourite hobby is photography though.' She thought it wouldn't be good to add 'and getting drunk in the university bar.' 'What about you, Kunimitsu?'  
The other boy in the class cut in 'Tezuka-kun's hobby is making people run in the tennis club'. Everyone giggled, Poppy included, and even Tezuka smiled.  
'I like being captain of the tennis club,' he replied 'and playing tennis is my main hobby. I also like reading, especially English books, and writing.'  
'Not just a pretty face then' said the blonde student reflexively. 'Er, I mean, let's move on to you ...' she said directing her gaze to the other boy in the class.

Tezuka watched his student-teacher carefully for a moment. His colloquial English was not as good as Echizen's - having not spent four years in the company of Californians - but he could translate the phrase the blonde student had let slip and figure its meaning well enough. He couldn't bring himself to consider its implication, instead tearing his eyes away and considering when he could get to the library to pick up a book on English idioms. He found himself barely listening to the rest of the lesson - unusual for him to say the least - and pondering more and more what Echizen had said earlier. Finally, as the student ushered them back into their classroom and thanked them for their assistance with her research he realised what exactly Echizen had meant. He, Tezuka, was developing feelings. They were very unlikely to be reciprocated. And he could not and should not run from the source as their club needed her.

As Tezuka walked back into his classroom, he involuntarily balled his fists to his notebook he held to his front and gave a long blink before moving to pack up his stuff. Oishi, always quick to notice a change in his friend, almost fell off his seat in his rush to come and ask his captain if he was okay.  
'_You seem a little stressed, Tezuka-buchou_.' he started _'Is there ..._' Tezuka looked up. Oishi. Oishi was a good listener.  
'_Yes, but let's go to the roof top and talk there_.'  
'_Okay._' Oishi smiled at him in a reassuring way. He was glad the captain felt he could talk to him and he hoped he could help. He hated to see any of his friends out of sorts.  
'Oishi, Tezuka, I shall see you on the courts later. Have a good day!' Oishi looked up and waved a goodbye to see the student gathering her stuff and answering questions from the students on their way out of the door. Tezuka however merely continued to pack up his belongings.  
'_You didn't enjoy your lesson with Poppy-sensai_?' asked Oishi.  
The only reply Tezuka gave was a small exasperated sigh.  
'_Let's go_' he said finally, buckling his bag.

The pair of them went on to the rooftop. It was a cloudy day and so they didn't have any companions up there. Tezuka walked to the railings that overlooked the school grounds and breathed deeply for a moment or two. Oishi joined him, watching his friend with concern.  
'_I've done something stupid, Oishi_' said Tezuka flatly. Oishi took a small intake of breath as his eyes widened a little.  
'_What is it? I'm sure we can undo it. I'll help _...' began the vice-captain, in a soothing voice.  
'_No, it's not like that. I've ... I've developed feelings for someone and nothing will come of it. It is just frustrating_.'  
'_Oh, I see_.' Oishi wanted to ask who but he knew that would be very impolite. Instead he settled for '_Why do you think nothing will come of it_?'  
'_Because I'm 15 and she is 23_.'  
'_Oh, I see_ ...' Oishi said again. Then he paused taking in this new information. He suddenly realised who Tezuka meant and his hand flew to his mouth '_Oh_!'  
'_Now you see_.' said Tezuka and gave Oishi a wan half-smile, acknowledging his own joke. '_Thank you for listening Oishi. And please, tell no-one of this_.'  
'_Of course, Tezuka_'  
'_Especially not Eiji._'  
Oishi smiled. Tezuka knew he and his doubles pair were close but this was more a reference to Eiji's big mouth than the likelihood of Oishi telling him.  
'_Of course not. Shall we go down to the clubhouse? It's nearly time to consider the next ranking matches. Perhaps we could get a head start on the arrangements._'  
They headed down the stairs discussing which second-years to include in the blocks, Oishi glad he had found something to take Tezuka's mind off his problems and Tezuka appreciative that Oishi had tried to change the subject to something that might actually serve to be a good distraction.

Poppy was suprised when she got a text message and Ryoma's number flashed up:  
'Are you free at lunch?'

She sent back:  
'Yes. Would you like to eat together?'

'I have library duty but you can meet me after that, 12.45 at the library.  
PS, it's the big building with books in.'

'Ha Ha Ha. Okay. I'll get us something from the cafeteria.'

'Don't worry. Nanako made us food. You're lucky I didn't just eat it all.'

'You know she'd kill you. Anyway, 12.45, big building with books, got it.'

And so it was that at 12.55pm, Poppy and Ryoma sat under the shade of a tree to eat the lunch Ryoma's cousin had prepared for them. Poppy didn't seem to think there was anything strange in this but then, Ryoma reflected, he figured she didn't know that Ryoma generally ate lunch with his team mates and that they would wonder why he wasn't there with them.  
'So, how was your morning?' asked Poppy brightly.  
'Okay. How was yours? Didn't you have a lesson with Oishi-senpai and Tezuka-buchou?' the freshman said, as casually as he could manage.  
'Yes, although I was teaching a smaller group that ...' she paused. 'Ryoma Echizen!' she suddenly exclaimed. He looked up, suprised at his full name.  
'What are you fishing for? Is this why we are eating away from your friends?' the girl asked, narrowing her eyes a little.  
Damn, he thought.  
'You're trying to get gossip on your sempais, you cheeky little brat!' she smirked.  
'Whatever. I just wondered how your morning went.' he said with a sly glance that suggested otherwise.  
'Bullshit, Echizen Junior! Anyway, for your information' she annuciated ' it was pretty good.' She gave him a sly smile this time. 'Kunimitsu could give you a run for your English money.'  
'Now you are bullshitting ... hey, wait, when did it become 'Kunimitsu'?'  
'Actually, curiosity got the better of me and I asked his first name. I won't be addressing him by it outside of the classroom.' she admitted.  
Ryoma paused, and Poppy took a bite of her katsu.  
'I think he likes you.'  
'I think he's a nice boy too.'  
'No, I mean. I think he really likes you.'  
'Oh I see,' then a pause. 'No, I don't see. Why are you telling me this, kiddo?'  
'Because I think you can teach our team a lot and I don't want buchou screwing it up by going weird. I think he's like me, not good at talking about much other than tennis. So, if he seems distant now you know why.'  
Poppy looked at the teenager now staring intently at his can of Ponta. Instinctively she leant over and gave him a squeeze.  
'Hey, geddofff' he muttered with a scowl, a blush rising across his cheeks.  
'I like the way that you can talk to me about stuff though, kiddo. Thanks.'  
Ryoma considered this. 'Well, you're easy to talk to.' he paused and gave a smirk 'Plus, you don't play tennis so your opinion counts for nothing anyway.'  
'Oh, I'm hurt!' said the blonde student with a mock-pained look on her face. 'Anyway, today is the day which changes all that. Eiji and Fuji are teaching me tennis, remember!'  
Ryoma hummed and lay back under the tree, and drained the rest of his Ponta. Suddenly he sat up.  
'Hey Poppy-chan, you don't have a racket do you?'  
'Erm, no.'  
'I have a study period now. You're staff, so you can sign me out. Let's go to the racquet shop.'  
Poppy looked up to see the younger boy's amber-green eyes glittering dangerously.  
'Okay, okay. Only because I wouldn't have a clue what to buy myself.' she sighed  
'I think Momo-sempai has a study period too.'  
'How convenient' she rolled her eyes but gave no argument.  
'Hmm. I'll text Momo to meet us at the gate in 10 minutes.'

Half-an-hour and one burger stop later - 'Haven't you boys just eaten?' 'Yeah, but not burgers.' - they were stood in the middle of a shop both Ryoma and Momo said was the best shop for tennis supplies in their area of Tokyo. The shop was modern but not flashy and the proprietor clearly knew about his stock. Poppy was rather reminded of a scene in a book she had once read, where a boy had to try out multiple magic wands, as she stood like a ragdoll as Momoshiro and Echizen rearranged her pose and got her to swing her arm with the racket.  
Ryoma looked at her as she swung the racket uncomfortably.  
'It's not an angry cat you're trying to shake off,' he said with a sigh, once again pulling her elbow forward.  
The shop owner watched her carefully and then said something in rapid Japanese that she didn't catch. She looked to Ryoma.  
'He says try your other hand.'  
'But I'm right-handed'  
'Doesn't always follow in tennis'  
She swapped the racquet to her left hand and considered it. 'Nope, it's definitely more comfortable in my right hand.'  
'Is it your throwing hand?'  
She thought about how she played lacrosse, about how she held her camera and about her gymnastics.  
'It's the hand I use to start cartwheeling?' she offered.  
Ryoma spoke to the shop owner again. He went out the back.  
'What now?'  
'He's going to find a racquet I suggested.'  
The guy came back with racquet in a gold and white cover.  
'Why do I think this is going to be close to a week's rent?' Poppy sighed. The shop owner beckoned them over as he unzipped it. Momo made an involuntary 'ooooh' as he took it in. Even Ryoma seemed to show an inordinate amount of interest in something the girl thought looked, for all intents and purposes, identical to the one that had just been dismissed. The shop owner handed it to her and she took it with both hands before Ryoma closed her hand around the grip on the handle. Now she realised what was different about it. It seemed lighter and better shaped for her size hand.  
'Better' said Ryoma with something close to approval. 'Swing'  
Momo moved her arm back and forth, turning the racket as he did so.  
Momo and Ryoma looked at each other and then looked to Poppy.  
'So, I'm buying this one then?' she asked with a resigned sigh. She sneaked a look at the price on the cash register before she handed over her card. There goes my lens, she thought.

They left the shop and headed back to school for tennis practise.  
'Ryoma, what made you ask for this one?' asked Poppy, looking at her new purchase.  
'I saw a Russian girl recently who won a major competition using it. She was a small player like you.'  
'Oh.'  
'That and I wanted to see how badly you wanted to play.'  
'What do you mean?' she asked.  
'Those other racquets were useless to you but if you weren't competitive you wouldn't have cared and just got whichever. You wanted the perfect racquet and paid a lot to get it. It is worth my sempai-tatchi spending time teaching you.' he smirked a little.  
'So you were testing me?' she stopped with her hand on her hip, annoyed that she fell into Ryoma's game.  
'I just picked a racquet out.' he said walking on ahead, sipping his grape soda.  
Momo shrugged, unsure of what had happened, but figured Echizen was being Echizen. Echizen could be deliberately annoying even to those close to him at times.  
'Poppysensai-chan, you will enjoy playing tennis!' he said smiling reassuringly. To his relief she smiled back, 'I sure will. Or else Ochibi will be paying for this thing through hard labour and a date with Sakuno-kun'. Momo didn't know what she had said but he knew that Poppysensai-chan definitely had a way with words; Ryoma was still coughing up Ponta when they reached the school gate.


	4. Chapter 4

The three of them arrived at the clubhouse and went their seperate ways - Poppy went to the girls' changing room this time - meeting back on the court. Poppy hadn't washed her kit from a couple of days previously yet so today she had a short hot pink running top and a white tennis skirt with pink lycra shorts underneath. She tied her hair up into two buns, one either side of her head, and grabbed a white yoga top from her bag to pull over her until she had warmed up. She looked at her new purchase but opted to keep it with her bag until she had less of an audience to watch her novice efforts. Just as she was about to head out to the courts Echizen's voice echoed in her head.  
'I think he likes you.'  
She hummed for a moment before pulling herself together It's probably just kiddo's imagination, she thought. Even if it's not, you're 23, you can let the kid down gently. She left the changing room and walked out into the sunshine greeting the coach with a cheery hello and waving to the regulars practising. She joined the second years in warming up and helped Ryuuzaki-sensei with an exercise testing reaction speeds. It was a full fifteen minutes later, when she went to watch Inui putting the regulars through their paces that she realised the captain was missing.  
She turned to Ryoma 'Where's Tezuka-buchou?'  
Ryoma looked around 'I don't know'  
'_Tezuka is drawing up the lists for the ranking matches_' said Oishi.  
Ryoma translated for Poppy and then added 'Why do you care?' with a sly smirk.  
'Because I'm going to tell him to give you 500 laps for being a brat.' the student replied smoothly.  
'_Che_' the boy replied pulling down his cap 'I can't wait until you know how to play so I can whip you.'

Tezuka stood at the window of Ryuzuki-sensei's classroom, looking over the courts. He was meant to be filling out the charts in front of him so he told himself he was discreetly picking out new players to try out. In reality he was alternating between watching the blonde student interact with his team mates, being jealous of their interaction and mentally kicking himself for the previous two steps. He knew he was being cowardly avoiding her at practise but, as Oishi had reasoned with him, he probably just needed some time to forget how he was feeling. He didn't consider that being up here would actually give him more chance to watch the object of his newly found and rather confusing affection.

No, he told himself. I am not that person. I do not do this.

Tezuka Kunimitsu was an only child, self-sufficient, intelligent and a leader from birth. Right now he cursed being 15 with his every fibre of being because he knew more than anything else it was his age that was the first - and therefore last - stumbling block. Having acknowledged his feelings and realising they were futile he wondered why this wasn't enough. He felt compelled to do something, anything, to make the feeling shift. He just no idea what. Apart from throw himself back into tennis. That what was really important. Angry with himself for being so distracted, Tezuka pulled the ranking match charts back into his view and didn't look up from them until he heard sensai call the practise to an end. The first, second and third years made their way to the clubhouse and Kawamura and Kaidoh also said goodbye, the former going to his shift at his dad's restaurant and the latter returning home for a family celebration. The other regulars stayed however, gathering around Poppy.

'So,' said Eiji 'Ochibi says you sneaked him and Momo out of school to buy a racquet?'. He gave a devilish smile and put his hands behind his head.  
'I wouldn't say there was much sneaking - good word, though' she added as afterthought 'But, yes, we bought a racquet that Ryoma swears will make me a tennis superstar, isn't that right Ochibi?'  
'_Ochibi_! You promise too much, _nya_! Don't worry though,' the acrobatic player said, turning back to his new student 'You're going to be taught by the one, the only, Dream Pair!'. He made a deep exaggerated bow as Fuji stepped forward. '_Ah, Fujiko! Our student is ready_!'

Eiji moved to the otherside of the net while Fuji stood by Poppy, showing her how to receive the ball and send it back. Occasionally, he leaned in close and moved her arm with his to demonstrate although this usually resulted in giggles all round as it looked so ridiculous. After 10 minutes or so she was able to consistently hit back a slow moving ball and was able to have a gentle rally with Eiji.  
'_Poppysensai-chan_, you're doing really good, _nya_!'  
Fuji stood behind the baseline giving encouragement along with the other regulars; as Eiji slowly started hitting the ball further away from the blonde girl making her run a little more each time, Fuji was drawn to a figure stood in a classroom someway above watching from the window. Buchou, he thought to himself. He looked at the scene in front of him and he looked at his captain. A thought occured to him and he suddenly knew why Tezuka really stayed away all practise. He decided to test the theory out.  
'Poppy-chan. Shall we try a serve?' he smiled and walked over. He stood right behind her, pressed against her and moving her body up and down slowly to demonstrate how to throw and where to hit the ball to get the most speed from her slender form. There was nothing in the action to be misinterpretated, at least on the ground, where it was clear to everyone Poppy included, that Fuji was showing the student how to serve a simple ball. However, when Fuji glanced up to the now empty classroom, he knew his theory had been proved correct.

Poppy was really enjoying her lesson but the light was fading and she was aware she was getting hungry. They decided to stop and continue again on Sunday after their session at the university gym.  
'What will we be doing, _Poppysensai-chan_?' asked Eiji walking over to the net.  
'That would be telling!' teased Poppy  
'I know.' he replied, confused. 'That's why I asked.'  
'_She means if she told you it wouldn't be a suprise anymore_.' supplied Ryoma with a smirk.  
'_Nya_ ...'  
Fuji smiled lightly. He had made an interesting discovery and he was in he mood for a bit of fun. '_You know what I'd like to see? Poppy-chan and Eiji-kun going head to head on acrobatics_.'  
The other regulars made their agreement clear with whoops and hollers.  
Eiji said '_Nya, I don't know. Poppy might not want to_.' He turned to Poppy who was clearly oblivious to what had been suggested. 'Um...'  
Ryoma looked up from where he was sat.'You. Him. Acrobatics across the courts. Most impressive wins dinner from us.'  
If Eiji expected a polite refusal he didn't get it.  
'Right now, yes?' she asked him with a predatory look in her eyes. He didn't dare decline.

They lined up. Momo spun a tennis racket '_Call_' he said to Eiji.  
'_Smooth_'  
'_It's rough_'  
Ryoma looked at Poppy. 'Do you want to go first or second?'  
'Second.'  
'_Eiji, you're up_.'  
'_Hoi hoi! Kikamaru Ben-dy_!'  
Eiji took a three step sprint before launching into a series of backflips, no handed cartwheels, tucks and twists finishing with an impressive mid-air and landed splits.  
'Ta da!' he cried from the far end of the court, walking back to the cheers of his team and Poppy.

Ryoma remembered that no-one knew of the medal she carried save him. He wasn't sure what to expect but he lifted the brim of his cap to lean back and watch. He saw her breath in and out once, immediately recognising the calm movement of someone totally focussed on their goal. She took a bare two steps before launching herself into a series of movements that flowed one from another with such devasting speed and complexity that it was impossible to say that she had not just done jet propelled ballet, landing squarely on two feet before lifting her leg high above her head a mere inch from the chain fence.

There was a split-second of silence broken by Ryoma saying '_I think sempai are buying Poppy-sensai dinner tonight_.' and Eiji launching himself down the court at Poppy as she walked back up. 'Wow wow wow wow!' he said with as much volume and pitch as he could muster.  
Inui looked at his notebook and then looked up again saying '_I couldn't write it all down_.'  
Fuji, whose eyes had opened wider than anyone had considered possible, was now smiling again and wondering how long it would be before Eiji was begging for lessons. Momo was whooping and even Oishi seemed to have forgotten anyone was in mortal danger from mistiming a jump on concrete. Poppy arrived at the exit to court A and gathered her bags.  
'So, shall we get changed so you dashing gentlemen can take me to dinner?'  
'Where should we go?' asked Fuji.  
'I suppose Eiji should choose, as technically he's taking me out ...' she said lightly. Ryoma smiled. If Eiji's pride was hurt at all this would be a good salve.  
'Ice-cream parlour!' the red-haired player cried '_Nya, Poppysensai-chan_, you have to try my favourite!'

And so it was, an hour later, all of them were squeezed around a table at Eiji's favourite ice-cream place, contented and full. Except for Momoshiro who was just overly full.  
'_Aiiiiiiiiiiiiii._..' he groaned, patting his distended stomach.  
'_Momo-senpai, perhaps three sundaes were too much_?' Echizen smirked sipping on a Ponta ice-cream float.  
Poppy had experienced a whole new world of exotic icecream flavours and was telling everyone about a milkshake shop near her home that sold milkshakes made of different chocolate bars and confectionary. Inui was taking notes about her favourite flavours and Eiji sincerely hoped this marked a change for the better for the tall player's signature 'juices'. Finally as the sun set, Poppy looked out of the window from where she was sat and sighed deeply  
'_I've had a lovely time. Thanks everyone_. I've really got to get back though.' she looked at Ryoma 'I'm going out with Nanako tonight and I don't want to make her worry that I'm cancelling.'  
Ryoma pushed her chair back slowly, letting his drink sink to his stomach.  
'Where are you going?' asked Eiji bouncing on his chair 'Can we come, please?'  
'_Eiji_!' reproved Oishi '_That's not polite_.'  
Eiji immediately looked downcast '_Nya, I just don't like missing out on fun_.'  
Poppy smiled 'I think we are going to some of the university bars so not really a junior high friendly thing, sorry.' Ryoma translated for her.  
'_Hmph_' Eiji pouted '_When I'm in college, I shall be out every night_!' he said brightly; this thought seemed to please him.  
'Have a good evening everyone. See you Sunday.' Poppy waved and Ryoma pulled down his cap and threw a hand up behind him as he left.  
Slowly the others got their stuff together and stood to leave. Inui looked at the bill and calculated the share. Fuji put down his money and said a quick goodbye, leaving before everyone else was ready and smiling mysteriously on his way. Eiji watched him go. '_Tensai is plotting something_,' he said grinning, wondering if it were mischief he could be involved with.  
Suddenly, Momoshiro sat up. '_Hey, Echizen left without paying for his shake_!'

Outside the ice-cream parlour, Fuji pulled out his phone and pressed a quick dial number.  
'_Tezuka_'  
'_Hello captain. You were missed at practise_.'  
'_Fuji_.'  
'_Is everything okay Tezuka_?' he said gently. He didn't want to appear to pry but he knew that Tezuka wouldn't speak without prompting.  
There was a pause.  
'Where are you, Fuji?'  
_'I just left the ice-cream parlour that Eiji likes. By the bus terminal. We took Poppy-chan for ice-cream. Why?'__  
'You were with Poppy-sensai?'__  
'Yes. Is that a problem, Tezuka?'_  
'_No._' another pause '_My parents are out this evening. Would you like to come to my house for dinner? We could get Kawamura-san to deliver sushi_.'  
Fuji smiled just a little wider.'_That's sounds great. I'll be there soon._'

Fuji rang off and walked to the bus stop that would take him to Tezuka's house, smiling to himself. Tezuka would tell him everything tonight, he knew. Fuji wanted to help his captain with whatever was troubling him but he had to admit he was rather looking forward to seeing his ever self-assured captain a little unstuck. He phoned his sister to let her know he wouldn't be back until later that evening and got onto the next bus that came past, musing on what Tezuka might be thinking right now.

Just as he sat down his phone rang. It was Eiji.  
'_Fujiko! Why did you rush away so fast_?'  
'_I had a phonecall to make. I'm just going to see Tezuka now_.'  
'_Buchou? Why_?'  
'_Yes. I'm going to go and solve a little problem_.'  
'_Hoi! I knew you were plotting Fujiko! What is it? What is it_?' said the red-haired player. Fuji could imagine him rocking on his heels with excitement as they spoke.  
'_I don't know yet_.' (Not technically a lie, thought Fuji) '_I just know something is bothering him and he invited me over. I guess he wants to talk about it._'  
'_Hmmmm_.' Eiji didn't seem convinced  
'_Oh, this is my stop. I'll call you later._' said Fuji and pressed the button to hang up, moving down the bus.

Tezuka greeted Fuji at the door in a sombre mood.  
'_I've ordered the sushi_' he said as they walked into the kitchen '_Would you like a drink_?'  
'_Some tea would be nice_, ' said Fuji smiling lightly in the face of dour glumness his captain was currently radiating. Fuji made light conversation about classes at school, Eiji's latest J-pop obsession spilling into his schoolwork and about his family. Finally, when Tezuka sat down with the tea tray and began to pour Fuji looked right at him.

'_I think I know why you missed practise, Kunimitsu_.'  
The captain looked up warily at the use of his first name. Even though Fuji was one of his best friends they rarely used first names. It indicated Fuji was serious. Tezuka considered trying the excuse about inter class matches but he knew Fuji would shoot that down straight away, so instead he simply sighed and poured Fuji his tea.  
'_You have feelings for Poppy-chan, yes_?'. Tezuka could see his friend watching him closely. His shoulders dropped a little.  
'_Yes_.' he replied simply.  
Fuji paused, he hadn't actually thought Tezuka would admit it so easily.  
'_Yes, I do_' the captain continued '_But obviously nothing will come of it and I wanted some time to ... deal with it before returning to hear her coach us_.' He paused and looked into the middle-distance for a moment. '_Echizen says she is a good coach and we can learn a lot from her._'  
'_Mmmn, Echizen, hmm_?' said Fuji raising an eyebrow. '_He's a perceptive kid_.'  
'_Yes_.'  
'_So that's it. You're just going to let it lie and not say anything_?' asked the prodigy.  
Tezuka looked suprised for a moment. Fuji merely sipped his tea, his face the picture of calm.  
'_Of course, she is a teacher. I am a junior high student._'  
'_Well, there is it that_.' conceeded Fuji. '_I'm guessing you don't really have to worry too much. She'll already know by now._'  
Tezuka frowned '_What do you mean_?'  
'_Echizen is a perceptive kid, yes? He spoke to you about it. Am I right_?' Tezuka nodded slowly.  
'_Then he'll have spoken to her about it too. You not turning up to practise probably confirmed it_.' Fuji raised an eyebrow again.  
Tezuka looked down at his half-empty teacup.  
'_So, now you're going to have actually deal with it rather than pretend to and hide in a classroom watching_,' Tezuka lifted his eyes to meet Fuji's. '_Yes, I saw you. That's how I guessed_.'  
'_Forgive me_.' Tezuka bowed his head.  
'_Don't be silly_.' said his friend smiling '_You happen to like an intelligent, companiable girl. There is nothing to apologise for. But I do think you should talk to her as her help could be invaluable, like Echizen said_.' He took a sip of his tea and considered the situation his captain faced.  
'_You know_,' he continued '_I think practically all of the team has a crush on her. The difference is that they have a crush on a new girl every week whereas you..._' he left the answer hanging but Tezuka knew it was '_... have never been interested before_.' Fuji smiled '_There is nothing to be embaressed about. She's a good looking college student who can keep Echizen in his place. What's not to like_?'  
Tezuka gave a small smile. He had been reading too much into this. Of course it was normal to like a girl like Poppy.  
'_Thanks, Syuusuke._'  
'_You're welcome_.'  
Just then the doorbell rang, '_Sushi_! _One normal, one wasabi platter_!'

Ryoma was back home, playing his dad on their home court, vaguely aware of giggles and shrieks coming from inside the house. Nanako and Poppy were getting ready to go out and meet some of Nanako's friends for food and karoke and this seemed to involve an increase of pitch and laughter from both girls as they got dressed. Finally, they both came out to say goodbye to the male-contingent of the family. Ryoma pulled his cap down as his dad came bounding over, pulling them both tight and telling them they were the most beautiful women in all of Tokyo. Poppy giggled and blushed and even Nanako smiled broadly.  
_Why do girls fall for lines like that?_ thought Ryoma bouncing a ball on the baseline. '_Dad, are you coming to play or what_?'  
Poppy giggled again and practically skipped over to Ryoma giving him a squeeze and a kiss he still wasn't quick enough to dodge. She smelt strangely sweet, a mix of perfume and plum wine, and when he turned to look at her he thought if any of his team mates were here they might have conniptions at the vision of the psychology student, hair curled and loose limbed in a simple white dress with a blue belt, but most obviously in a mischievious mood thanks to the plum wine.  
'Poppy, Poppy! We need a photo!' cried Nanako, eyes shining. Ryoma realised his cousin had also dressed up ready to go out. As Poppy dashed inside to get her camera, Ryoma turned to Nanako. '_You two look nice_.' he said. She beamed at the rare compliment. Poppy brought her camera out and got Ryoma to take a picture of her and Nanako and Nanako took a couple of pictures of her with Ryoma, who even took off his cap for the last couple when requested. With that, and a flurry of purses and makeup, the girls left to go out leaving Ryoma to lose a set to his father and return in to play on his console before sleep.

Ryoma checked his phone on his desk. A missed text message from Momoshiro:  
'_Eiji and I are going into the city shopping tomorrow, to get stuff for next week's tournament. Want to come?_'  
He yawned and texted back  
'_Sure. When and where?_'  
'_11am at the train station. See you there_'  
'_OK_'

Next came a text from Eiji  
'_Ochibi! Are you coming tomorrow?_'  
'_Yes_'  
'_Fujiko is plotting something to do with Tezuka and he won't tell me what it is. We're going to try and find out!_'  
Ryoma remembered that Tezuka had been missing from practise.  
'_Hmm_,' he said to himself '_Now I see._'  
'_Is Fuji coming tomorrow_?' he texted back to Eiji.  
'_Yes, and Oishi_.'  
'_I reckon they know._' he texted. There was barely 10 seconds before the reply.  
'_Wait, Ochibi! Do you know too?'_  
'_Mada Mada Dane_'  
Ryoma smiled, turned his phone off and shoved Karupin from his pillow in preperation for going to sleep. He almost felt sorry for his captain. Had it of been anyone else with a crush, none of the team would have batted an eyelash. Then he considered again. It was actually Poppy who was about to wander unbidden into the seastorm of a Seigaku Eiji Power Investigation. He hoped she didn't drink too much tonight as she was going to get a headache one way or another tomorrow.

The next morning Ryoma got to witness first hand what the aftermath of a student night out looked like and it wasn't anywhere near as pretty as the night before. Poppy and Nanako sat slumped at the breakfast table, sipping coffee and treating each other and themselves like they might break at any moment.

'Never again'  
'_Hai_'

Ryoma watched them talk about the previous night, with yawns, sighs, whimpers and giggles. Finally they both gave a deep sigh and moved back from the table. Ryoma looked suprised.  
'I thought you two might just stay there all day.' he said with a smirk.  
'Nope, we have some serious shopping to do.' Poppy said rubbing her hands with glee.  
Just the thought of it seemed to cheer them up immensely and soon they were buzzing about packing their respective bags for a day out and sharing a drink and some painkillers.  
'What are you up to kiddo?'  
'I'm meeting some friends at the station to go out at 11am.'  
'You might as well come with us then.' said the blonde girl opposite.

Ryoma looked at his cousin and his friend. He imagined meeting his team-mates.

'It's okay.' he said with a shrug.

'Oh come on,' said Nanako 'I'd really like to meet the people you call friends.'  
Both girls gave him their sweetest smile.  
'Fine, fine.' he said pulling down his cap 'But you can buy me lunch when we get into the city.'  
'Okay then, let's go.'  
When Ryoma picked up his tennis bag on the way out, Poppy grinned at him  
'Do you ever go anywhere without a racket?'  
The boy considered this question.  
'No.' he said and pulled the door open.

They got to the station a couple of minutes after eleven and Poppy realised most of Echizen's team were there. Eiji bounced right over and gave her a gripping hug before she could warn him of her delicate disposition that morning. After just a moment or two, he pulled her at arm's length and gave her an appraising look.  
'Oh _Poppysensai-chan, nya_! You look just like _nee-san_ after she has been out. Tut tut!' he smiled and then noticed Nanako.  
Poppy introduced her and Eiji grinned before saying 'Hey, is Echizen as rude at home as he is at school?'  
'Yes.' the girls said together. This seemed to delight Eiji. '_Ochibi! Ochibi! Let's go, yes_!'  
Momoshiro, Oishi, Fuji, Eiji, Echizen, Poppy and Nanako all walked over to the platform for trains to Tokyo central. The next one wasn't crowded and so they were able to get seats together. Poppy found herself between Eiji and Fuji with Nanako opposite. Poppy checked her bag and then remembered her other plan for the day. Photo printing.  
'Ah Fuji-kun, I'm getting some pictures developed today. Would you like to pick out some of yours you want enlarged?'  
The four of them spent the next twenty minutes comparing shots and making a list of what to get printed from the camera.

As the train pulled in Momoshiro's stomach gurgled with volume and force.  
'_Is it lunchtime, yet_?'  
The others sighed, resigned to finding food.  
'_Nanako-san, Poppy-chan_, you owe me lunch remember?' said the freshman up front.  
'_What did you do to earn that, Echizen_?' asked Momo - always impressed with Ryoma's ability to get free food.  
'_I said I'd let them come along today._' said Ryoma pulling down his cap and stepping out of the carriage  
'_Huh_' said Momo to no-one in particular '_Only Echizen_.'

They walked towards a noodle restaurant big enough to accomodate them all and took a big table towards the back. The lunchtime rush hadn't started yet so, as it was pretty quiet, Eiji and Fuji told stories about their time in the tennis club before the others had joined, occasionally punctuated by Oishi correcting Eiji on exaggerated points, with Ryoma and Nanako translating for Poppy. The waitress came and took their order and a quiet fell over them. Nanako looked around, '_Is this all of your regulars_?' she asked.  
Ryoma shook his head '_Four missing. Kawamura-senpai's working today_.'  
'_Viper's away with his family until tonight and Inui-senpai is studying_.' supplied Momoshiro  
Fuji smiled lightly. 'I wonder where Tezuka-buchou is? Maybe we should call him and invite him out?'  
Oishi and Ryoma looked directly at him, thinking as one He wouldn't.  
Poppy smiled and said 'Oh yes! That would be nice.' She turned to Nanako. 'He's the captain. Very smart kid.'  
Fuji took his phone and pressed his speed-dial button  
'_Tezuka? There are a few of us in ..._'

Ryoma listened to the conversation closely, over the discussions everyone was holding around him. He noted that Fuji didn't mention either Poppy or Nanako. To Tezuka it sounded like a trip to buy supplies for a tournament. Fuji knows then, he thought with a small smile. He was aware that Fuji had a streak of mischief running through him. His thoughts were curtailed by the third year ringing off.  
'_He's going to meet us in an hour at the department store near here._'  
'_Hey, Fuji. What did you go to see Tezuka about last night_?' Eiji leaned in close to his friend.  
Fuji looked over to where Nanako and Poppy were involved in a conversation together about where to go shopping.  
Oishi and Ryoma looked at Fuji, then at Poppy, then back to Fuji again.  
'_Oh, he just needed some encouragement with something he's been working on_.' said Fuji lightly. Eiji was about to question this obtuse answer when the waitress started to hand out bowls of ramen at the table. Everyone realised quite how hungry they were now there was food in front of them. Momo, in particular, looked like his next Christmas and Birthday had been brought in a bowl with miso flavouring.

There was much less talking and much more noisy slurping for a while. Momo put his chopsticks down and looked very satisified and the others soon followed. Only Poppy's looked barely touched. Eiji peered over.  
'Do you not like ramen _Poppysensai-chan_?'  
She blushed 'No, I think it's really nice. It's just ...'  
Echizen gave a soft laugh and delved into his bag under the table, emerging triumphant a moment later. In his hand was a plastic fork.  
'Oh, Ryoma - thank you!' the student said with a delighted smile.  
'Not so fast.' he waved it in front of her.  
'What now?'  
'Come and meet us for ... tea later on.' he looked to Fuji, who leant back a little in his seat and looked directly back at the freshman.  
'That's a good idea, Echizen-kun. You girls should come and meet us for tea at 3pm.'  
'Of course, we'd be delighted to,' Poppy said 'Wouldn't we, Nanako?' The Japanese girl nodded in agreement. 'Now can I have that fork so I can have some lunch?'  
'Yes,' the younger boy said 'Once you've ordered me a Ponta.'  
'Don't push it, kiddo' the student said, sticking out her tongue and snatching the eating utensil from him.

After the noodles had been eaten and the bill settled, the girls went on their way to find some more shops to explore and the boys went to the district with the best sports shops. Echizen strolled at the back of the group not noticing until it was too late that Fuji had slowed down to match his pace. The older boy smiled at him.  
'_Nice move, Echizen-kun_'  
'_Fuji-sempai_?' he tried to make it sound innocent.  
'_So, you figured out our captain is having a few problems._'  
'_If you mean that he has a crush on Poppy-chan, then yes._'  
'_Mmn_.' Fuji hummed for a moment. '_Do you think getting Poppy-chan and Tezuka-buchou together is possible_?'  
'_No._'  
'_Me either._'  
'_He just has to not make an ass of himself so it doesn't affect his tennis._'  
Fuji chuckled. '_Surely that would make it easier for you to beat him_.'  
'_Exactly._' the freshman pulled down his cap 'It's no fun beating someone not playing their hardest.'  
At that point, Momo turned round. '_Hey, Echizen. Why are you so keen to go for tea later? Are you trying to impress Poppy-chan, eh? Do you love her? Do you?_' He gathered Echizen up into a headlock, swept off his cap and knuckled the top of the boy's head.  
'_Momo-sempai, that hurts_!' came to the muffled response. Eiji picked up the freshman's feet and he and Momo bodily carried Echizen through the streets as if sick, singing loudly, much to the younger boy's chagrin and Fuji's amusement; even Oishi found the sight of this impromptu parade pretty funny. They finally stopped outside of a large sports shop and went inside all thoughts lost, save for taking in the expanse of new and exciting ways to spend money on their joint obsession.

Eiji had money from his birthday to spend on a new racquet so the five of them spent some time looking at the displays, Eiji swinging various ones and balancing balls on them to test their bounce before making his purchase. They spent the next half an hour looking through music shops and games shops before moving on to meet Tezuka outside the largest department store in the area. Ryoma realised as they approached that he rarely spent any of his free-time outside of tennis with his captain. He wondered what Tezuka actually did with his free time.  
'_Buchou_' he said, as he approached. Tezuka nodded his greeting. Oishi smiled broadly at his friend  
'_Tezuka. It's great for you to join us_.' he said. Eiji got out his new racket to show his captain.  
'_Hoi! Look what I just got_.' Tezuka took it and looked it all over '_Soon there will be new super-improved Kikamura Beams!_' the acrobat continued.  
Fuji smiled, '_We were just thinking of going to the bookstore across the road and maybe on to some of the gift shops further down_'  
'_Oh, good. I have some books I need to order._' Tezuka said before pausing '_But I'm happy to do whatever you have planned_.' he finished.  
Fuji linked an arm through his as they crossed the road '_Oh, great. We're meeting people for tea at 3 too_.'

Inside the bookshop Momo and Ryoma went looking for new volumes of a manga they both read and Oishi and Eiji sat on the comfy seats looking through some display books - human anatomy and a book on cat breeds respectively - while Fuji browsed the photography monographs. Tezuka consulted the list in his diary and went to find the books in the shelves. After finding a couple of the titles and adding them to his basket he paused and looked at his team mates, Momo and Ryoma bickering over who should buy the remaining copy, Oishi patiently listening as Eiji described the fluffiness of the cat in his picture while showing Oishi said picture with said fluffy cat, Fuji content to flick through books and agreeing with Eiji that it was indeed a very fluffy cat.

'_I am lucky to have friends like these_.' Tezuka said to himself. He reflected a moment more but couldn't bring an explanation for his feelings to his concious mind. He continued to pull titles from shelves and flick through them, not really taking them in, but instead wondering why he had said yes to Fuji. Normally he preferred to shop alone or with just one friend to accompany him perhaps. He wasn't comfortable with the company of many people. He did remember the last couple of celebrations at Kawamura's sushi place being fun though so perhaps ... He was so lost in thought that he didn't realise Fuji had come over to join him.  
'_Would you like to queue with me_?' his friend asked, lifting his own basket of books. Fuji smiled and for once Tezuka looked straight at his friend and smiled a little in return too.  
'_Thank you_.'

Momo and Ryoma had joined Oishi and Eiji in looking at the cat pictures (the human anatomy book now lay abandoned) and Ryoma was explaining what breed Karupin was and how he got her. Momo looked up and happened to catch sight of the captain, in conversation with Fuji, in the queue.  
'_It's good to have Tezuka out with us_.' he said to the other three '_He always seems so tense and busy_.'  
Eiji nodded '_Nya, you're right. He doesn't come out with us often. It must be Fuji's magical powers of persuasion_.' Oishi nodded. Ryoma simply pulled down his hat.

The boys spent the next hour buying sundry grip tape, socks, bath salts, magazines and - in Eiji's case - a large bag of jellied sweets, which he handed out and toothpaste which he enthused about.  
Fuji looked at his watch '_It's quarter to three. Echizen, text Nanako and ask her to meet us at the tea rooms beyond the intersection for the park_.' They started to walk over to the junction to cross, Oishi by Tezuka. The captain turned to his friend.  
'_Who are we meeting for tea_?' he asked  
'_Poppy-san and Echizen's cousin Nanako-san._' he replied watching the traffic and holding Eiji back from the crossing until it was clear.  
'_I see_.' the third-year captain frowned a little.  
'_I know how much you like tea, Tezuka-kun_' said Fuji smoothly '_I thought it would be fun to show Poppy-chan a real Japanese tea house._' He smiled brightly.  
'_Yes_.' Tezuka lifted his head '_Yes, it would._' Fuji took his arm once again.  
Behind him Ryoma and Momo exchanged glances. Rarely, if ever, did their captain sound so enthused by something.  
'Hey Echizen.' Momo whispered '_I think that maybe Fuji-sempai is up to something_.'  
Ryoma turned his head and said under his breath '_Mada mada dane_.'


	5. Chapter 5

They arrived at the teahouse just as a cloud split up above and soft, fat raindrops began to puddle around them.  
Eiji fished in his bag and pulled out an umbrella for everyone to gather under. As the tallest, Momoshiro held it up.  
'_Momo-senpai, do you know what you look like holding an umbrella with pink cats all over it_?' asked Echizen, leaning under the shallow teahouse awning and pulling down his cap.  
'_What? Huh?_' said Momo pulling the umbrella away to look at it, and immediately shaking the gathered rain over everyone underneath.  
'_Momo-chan! Nya!_' cried Eiji.  
'_Oh, look, here come the girls._' said Fuji looking out over the crossing into what was now quite a downpour. Sure enough, approaching the crossing were the two college girls, laughing, with a light green mac pulled over both their heads as a makeshift cover and a couple of shopping bags on their arms. As they began to cross they both spotted the group and grinned.  
'So, it started to rain a little ...' Poppy started as they arrived 'Oh, Tezuka-kun, it's lovely to see you.' she smiled at the captain as she tried to wipe away some of the rain still streaming over her face.  
He bowed a little. '_Poppy-sensai_.' He looked like he wanted to say something else but instead turned to Fuji. '_We should go in_.'  
'_Yes, okay_.'  
Poppy frowned a little and then caught Ryoma's eye, who just smirked. 'Hey brat, this one is on you.' she countered to their previous silent exchange.  
'What? Why?' the freshman came very close to pouting.  
'Because you asked us to tea, and that is what gentlemen do when they invite a lady out.'  
'_Che_.'

They went inside and gathered at a large table waiting to be called to join the next ceremony. Fuji and Nanako explained to Poppy that this tea house was not as formal as others and welcomed tourists and younger people in the afternoons to learn about the tea ceremony.  
A young lady in a kimono came over to their group. '_I'm sorry but we only have space for five more people_.' she said with a bow. The group looked at each other and Nanako explained the problem to Poppy.  
'_Why don't Echizen, Eiji-senpai and I go the burger place across the street and wait for you there_' suggested Momo  
'_Nya, but I want to stay and see Poppy-chan learn to take tea_!' said Eiji biting his lip.  
'_Okay, I'll go with Momo-chan and Echizen-kun_' said Oishi '_I need to go to the aquatic shop and pick up some fish food anyway_.'  
'_Yay! Thank you Oishi_!' beamed Eiji. The group at the table waved goodbye to the three staying behind and moved into the cloakroom to drop off their belongings and remove their shoes. Poppy couldn't help feeling she was doing the most touristy of activities offered in all of Japan, probably not truly a drop authentic, but not knowing much about the tea ceremony she was glad that they were somewhere that it wasn't expected she would know what to do.

The ceremony was actually fascinating and she found it very relaxing to watch, following the lead of the tea host and the others. She quickly discovered Tezuka especially was familiar with the ceremony. It was all strangely companiable considering they did not speak much at all throughout the ceremony. Nanako explained that this was not a full ceremony, as these could last several hours, and when the host was finished and bowed to them they were free to drink their tea and eat the confection supplied without further ceremony. Poppy found herself completely absorbed wishing only that she could take pictures. Finally, the host bowed to them and left them sat on the mats to finish their tea.

As she left, Fuji turned to the blonde girl  
'Did you enjoy it?'  
'It was amazing! At home I consider it ceremony to actually get the teapot out so this was awesome. I can't believe they can last for hours though.' Poppy paused and then smirked at her own thought  
'Doesn't the tea go cold?' she asked with an innocent face before splitting into a wide grin.  
'My aunt works at a tea house in Kyoto. That one is more traditional where the ceremonies do last much longer. Each tea house follows its own rules.' said Tezuka. Fuji and Eiji looked slightly suprised by their captain volunteering information about anything, especially his family.  
'Wow,' said Poppy 'That's amazing.' She continued to ask Tezuka questions about the tea ceremony, his family and himself generally as the conversation wore on. Nanako, Eiji and Fuji spoke amongst themselves and finished their tea, Fuji watching carefully as Tezuka seemed to soften a little under the attention of the English student. He thought about Ryoma's suggestion for them all to take tea and figured - pillar of support or not - at least the scheming and match-making of Seigaku would be in good hands once Fuji graduated. A further thought occured to him and he excused himself to make a phone call.

Once in the cloakroom he grabbed his phone from his jacket pocket.  
'_Hello_?'  
'_Hey Sis, is the house free tonight...?_'

Everyone in the tea house was finished and so they gathered themselves up to meet Oishi, Ryoma and Momo across the street. The rain had eased off a little but they still quickly bundled into the fast food place opposite. Momo seemed to be getting towards the end of a big pile of burgers and Oishi and Ryoma were each eating an icecream.  
'_Ooooh, Oishi. Can I have some_?' his doubles partner asked bounding over and scooping up some on a wafer.  
'How was it, Poppy?' asked Momo  
'Really fun!' replied Poppy 'I learnt a lot. Just wish I could have taken pictures. Oh! That reminds me ...' She opened up her bag and took out a set of enlargements. 'These are from your practise the other day. Some are mine and some are Fuji-chan's.'  
They sat around looking at the pictures, laughing at some of the faces the regulars pulled when playing, now caught on camera for all eternity. Poppy saw the captain stood just behind her looking over her shoulder.  
'I got a great one of you, Tezuka, one of my favourite of the whole group.' She thumbed through the remaining enlargements. 'Oh here, it is.' There was a group murmur of '_Sugoi_!' The picture showed the captain controlling a heavy ball ready to send it back over the net. Every sinew and fibre was clearly focused on the ball in his posession. Ryoma gave a rare smile.  
'_That's our captain_.' he said, looking up to where the third-year stood.  
'_We should have it as a poster for the clubroom_.' said Oishi '_It'll be an inspiration for the club members._' Nanako translated.  
Poppy grinned 'Not this one of Ryoma-kun?'. She held up a chance snap she had got of Ryoma scowling and pulling his cap down, having just been distracted by Momoshiro. The freshman saw it, scowled and pulled down his cap, leading to fresh laughter and Eiji seizing him round the neck. '_Ochibi! You're so cute, nya_!'  
'_Kikumaru-sempai, that hurts_!' Ryoma said, not for the first time that day.

Just then Fuji's phone rang.  
'_Hey ... okay, that's great. Bye_.'  
He turned to the group. '_My house is free tonight. Sis says we can have a party tonight before we have to get back to our more strict training for the next tournament._'  
'_Wow, great, thanks Fuji-sempai_' said Momoshiro with a big grin '_Who are you going to ask_?'  
'_Well, the regulars of course and maybe some of Fudomine. I'll see if Yuuta is free too_.'  
Echizen looked up '_Does that mean Mizuki too_?' he asked wrinkling his nose, like a bad smell had wafted in.  
Fuji smiled '_Not if he knows what's good for him_.'  
Eiji grinned '_Hey Fujiko, we should ask some of the girls from our class too_.'  
'_Sure_,' the other boy smiled, indulging Eiji's favourite hobby of gossiping with his female classmates.  
Poppy and Nanako sat chatting together, unaware of what was being discussed. Fuji turned to them  
'_Poppy-chan, Nanako-sa_n. Would you like to come to a party tonight at mine?'  
'Oh, we already have plans for dinner but maybe we could drop by after that?' Poppy asked turning to her friend.  
'I have to study tonight after dinner but you should go once we've eaten.' Nanako replied with a smile. Poppy had clearly grown fond of these junior high boys and their high jinks in the last week.

The girls left soon after to continue shopping and the boys headed back to the station getting the train back to their neighbourhood, calling various friends to invite them to Fuji's. Only Ryoma and Tezuka remained quiet, sat together on the train. Echizen was dozing and Tezuka was reading a tennis magazine printed in English. Echizen opened an eye and looked at it.  
'_Hmm. I used to read that one back in America. I didn't know you could get it here_.' he leaned over to check and then leaned back again _'I learned the buggy-whip shot from it just before I played Kaidoh-senpai for the first time._'  
Tezuka was silent a moment more, recalling that match. Just at that moment Echizen's phone beeped. He pulled it out to read the text.  
'_Buchou, it's for you_.' he said lazily, handing the phone over.

'Ryoma, I forgot to say thanks to everyone for taking me to tea. Especially Tezuka, who answered loads of my questions. Can you pass it on for me? See you later on kiddo'

Tezuka read the message and passed the phone back with a nod of acknowledgement.  
'_See, buchou, I knew you would be good friends_.' With that Ryoma tucked his phone away, pulled his cap down and resumed his snooze opening his eyes only once to note his captain was still reading his magazine but now there was a slight smile playing on the older boy's face. Echizen wondered to himself why he even cared if the captain was happy but then considered friends were friends even if you never felt you needed them in the first place. As he looked about the regulars gathered in the carriage and thought about the others he considered that, although he played tennis for himself first and foremost, it might as well be with a team of people you liked.  
'_Hey, Ochibi!_' The freshman lifted his head slightly as some purple chews landed on his lap '_You like the grape flavoured ones right?_'  
Yeah, having friends was okay.

In due course, the train pulled in and the boys went their seperate ways, agreeing to meet at Fuji's house at 7.30pm that evening. Ryoma looked at his watch, it was 6pm now. Time to go home, eat, have a bath and head out. He would take his racquet as he knew Fuji had his own small court at home. Arriving home, he greeted his mother saying that Nanako and Poppy wouldn't be around for dinner. She busied about preparing him some dinner while he went to soak and try out the bath salts he had bought that day. Karupin kept him company while he was in the tub. He recalled that, on Tuesday, Poppy would be moving further south on to another host family and a different school. He was suprised to find he felt sad about that. She had made school, even tennis practise, more interesting in the last week. Even though she was technically Nanako's guest, she had spent as much time with Ryoma and she was fun to be with. Perhaps girls are alright once they get older, he considered. Out of the window he heard the bell ring for evening prayers and pulled himself up from the bath to wrap himself in a towel and get dressed to eat.

Just after 7.20, Momo came to call for Echizen - also with his racquet - and they left for the party. Approaching Fuji's house, they could hear Eiji's voice singing along to a Chocolate's song and the sound of people milling in the garden. Fuji opened the door to them and immediately they met a throng of people they recognised. For an event he only thought to put on that afternoon, there was a lot going on.  
'_Ryoma-sama! Ryoma-sama_!' came a familar shriek, as Tomoko came bounding over followed by Sakuno and An. '_You came!_'  
'_Of course_,' boomed a voice near the food 'Fuji-senpai is throwing this party in honour of the regulars!'  
Tomoko spun to where the loud-shirted boy stood '_That isn't something you should boast about, Horio!_'  
Momo looked to Ryoma and shrugged '_Seems like the gang's all here._' They wandered through to the garden. Eiji had relinquished his control of the karoke in favour of playing a match against Oishi.  
'_Oishi-chan, we don't get to play mu ... Nyaaaa! I wasn't ready, don't shoot a moon volley at me!_'  
Inui was chair umpire, although it was more accurate to say he was court statistician as he was writing much more than he was calling.  
'_He never stops, does he?_' muttered Ryoma  
'_Nope ... hey, Viper!_' called Momo over to the other side of the garden.  
'F_shhhhh ... what is it, moron_?' Kaidoh was sat in a chair with a large drink of juice, watching the game.  
'_How's that to greet an old friend? Besides, I got you a roll of your favourite grip tape today for next week_.' Momo grinned, clearly enjoying shocking his rival with his generosity.  
'_Hmph. Thanks_.'

Ryoma took a seat to watch the game between Oishi and Eiji, only then noticing he was sat next to Tezuka.  
'_Buchou_' he said with a nod.  
'_Echizen_.' the captain replied.  
The freshman watched Eiji muck around shooting balls as far past Oishi as he could, idly wondering if Tezuka would accept a challenge to play him here, before his phone beeped. A split-second later, Eiji and Fuji's phones also beeped. They looked at each other and Ryoma took his phone from his pocket. It was a message from Poppy.

'HELP. park across street.'

Ryoma looked to Fuji, whose eyes were narrowed and his face the shape it only took when he was angry. He had his phone in his hand.  
'_Echizen, you got the same message_?'  
'_Let's go._'  
Fuji went to lock his front door and everyone left from the garden. Ryoma showed the message to the regulars and they all gathered themselves to go across.  
'_Hurry everyone_!' said Oshi, concern written all over his face.  
They reached the entrance to the park a few minutes later and it was immediately apparent what the problem was. A group of high school boys had gathered in a group around Poppy and were taking great delight at shouting at her in Japanese and pushing her about. Before anyone could stop him Echizen had taken a ball from his bag and sent it spinning at high speed to make contact with the forehead of the ringleader.  
'_What the f..._' he said grabbing his head and letting Poppy go roughly. '_Who invited those brats_?'  
'_We invited ourselves_.' shouted Momoshiro '_When you started on our friend there_.'  
The high school thugs began to advance, shouting obscenities, but three further tennis balls appeared like scud missiles. One of them looked up, the younger boys were approaching undaunted.  
'_They came armed with ... tennis racquets? And balls? Seriously, screw this, man_.' he began to walk away, with a couple of others following him.  
The ring leader, turned to Poppy '_This is your fault, bitch. Did you call in the grade-school mafia?_'. The student watched him warily but blankly, clearly unable to understand him.  
'_Arrgh_!' he called shoving her roughly before sprinting off.  
Echizen handed Taka-san his racket and a ball but Tezuka put his hand out  
'_No, let's not make this into a fight_.'  
Instead they ran down as a group to where Poppy was still lying on the floor, eyes closed, looking more like a ragdoll than ever. Momo went to scoop her up with Eiji saying '_Poppy-chan, Poppy-chan._'  
She opened her eyes.  
'Have they gone?'  
The boys nodded.  
'Good, I thought if I played dead he'd run off.'  
'_Are you okay? What happened?_' asked Oishi, as Momo helped the girl stand. Ryoma translated for her.  
'Oh. I was walking across the path and they started yelling but I didn't understand them. This seemed to upset them.' She looked around at everyone gathered there. 'Oh, I ruined your party.' she said realising what had happened.  
'No, don't worry, everyone is still by the entrance to the park. We can go back now.' smiled Fuji. Eiji cuddled the girl tight.  
'Nya, you must have been scared!' Poppy hesitated a little but then nodded.  
Kaidoh and Momo still looked angry when they got to the house and everyone resumed their party activities.  
'_We should go and find those guys_.' said Momo.  
'_No._' said Tezuka plainly '_We must concentrate on the tournament next week. Don't let this distract you._'  
The second-years sighed, deeply frustrated. Poppy watched this exchange silently. She couldn't translate it but she knew exactly what had been said. She walked over to Momo and Kaidoh and took them each by the hand '_Your captain is right_.' she smiled, squeezing their fingers gently.  
'Hey _Poppy-chan, Poppy-chan_!' Poppy broke away and turned to Eiji 'Can you teach me to do the jumps you did yesterday?'  
Poppy looked down at her clothes, jeans, t-shirt and a long sloppy cardigan and heels. 'I'm not exactly dressed for it...'  
'Oh please, just one. You can teach me the rest later!'  
'Okay, okay.'  
The regulars smiled. Even Poppy found it hard to give in to Eiji's persistant upbeat badgering. She took off her shoes and jewellery, while Eiji took down the net to make more space. She stretched a little before doing a moderately difficult tumble. Both Fuji and Echizen snuck a look at Tezuka, who hadn't seen Poppy's performance on the courts the previous evening. He looked impressed.  
Sakuno and Tomoko clapped and cheered asking where she learnt to do it and how long it took her. Fuji translated for her and she smiled.  
'I've been training since I was four years old so about eighteen years. I learned as a gymnast at my gymnastics club.' when Fuji translated this back he cut the sentence a little. Tezuka however had heard the original English. Eighteen years, he thought. Eighteen years of continued training for one goal.  
He turned to the freshman regular by his side and said '_You were right, we have lots to learn from Poppy-sensai_.'  
'_Yep. Shame she goes on Tuesday. Absorb it quickly_.' said Echizen with a shrug. '_I'm going to get a juice_.'

As the light faded, people headed inside to play on Fuji's console or sing on the karoke. A few of the girls headed for home, as well as the first years excluding Echizen. The members of Fudomine stayed a little while longer, some rallying in the fading late with Momo and Taka-san before An yawned and nearly fell asleep in the lounger she had been sat in. Kamio rushed to her side before Momo could even suggest she should go, Tachibana waving his goodbyes as he walked through the house and the three of them collecting Shinji from the kitchen, where he seemed to be involved in a long conversation about stolen grip tape with a cactus. As they left Poppy walked with them to the door, smiling brightly and handing Tachibana a piece of paper. He looked at it, smiled broadly and nodded before giving a final wave to the party attendees still in sight. Tezuka watched this exchange and sighed slightly before heading away from the noise of Eiji firing bullets at zombies on the screen and heading to sit in the garden. A moment or two after sitting down he found Poppy had joined him.

'Hey,' she said with a soft smile 'The zombies too loud for you too?'  
'Zom-bies?' he repeated with a slight frown.  
'Oh, yeah, the things in the game.' she made a shotgun motion 'Bang, bang.'  
Tezuka smiled inspite of himself 'Yes,' he said 'Eiji gets ... excited.'  
Poppy laughed. 'He's a cool kid. You all are.' She looked at him suddenly studying his glass of juice and sighed a little herself. 'I wish there wasn't a language barrier. I mean, don't get me wrong, your English is fantastic but I have to hold back a bit because I know the stuff I want to say about you all would just be confusing. Like zombies.' she smiled. 'Except I can say I haven't seen a team like yours since I was in National level competition. You have something special.'  
Tezuka wanted to say he knew and thank you and that it meant a lot that Poppy recognised it. What he actually said was  
'But we are still children to you.'  
Poppy was a bit thrown by this and watched him for a moment.  
'Hmm,' she said considering, 'Yes and no. Ryoma-chan, for all his talent is still a kid. You third-years are closer to adults I think. You have to take your tennis seriously to improve and so you are more mature than the average teenager. I went through the same thing at the same age. In gymnastics you must be strong enough to reach your peak at eighteen. I'm sure it is the same in tennis.' He found himself compelled to give her a sideways glance, furious with himself that his composure was not holding.  
She took his hand. 'Kunimitsu. You are very talented. You told your team members earlier that they must focus on their next competition.' She can read my mind, he thought bitterly. She continued lightly, ignoring him biting his lip.  
'You are also a lovely person. When I leave next week, let's stay in touch.' she smiled, lent forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She stood and went to pull him to his feet with both hands.  
'Let's go see if Eiji is done with those zombies yet.'

He breathed out gently and met her expectant gaze 'I doubt it,' he said 'Last time he was here, Fuji-kun had to promise him ice-cream to get him to stop.' He was delighted when Poppy gave a suprised laugh. As they reached the threshold to the house he turned to her 'I think he might be the same with the trampolines tomorrow.' She grinned 'You're like Echizen. He's much funnier in English too.' She left him puzzling that last statement and went over to the younger boy in question.  
'Hey kiddo, I need to get back. Don't forget everyone, it's 10am tomorrow at the university gym.' she said to the group at large, as Ryoma stood to leave.  
'Che,' he grumbled 'I didn't even get to challenge buchou.'  
Poppy went around saying goodbye to everyone as Echizen waited by the door. As she left, she found Tezuka in the kitchen with Fuji getting a drink. He bowed to her and she giggled.  
'You know the European way to say goodbye, right?'  
He lifted his head and looked at her for a split-second before she planted a kiss on each of his cheeks before doing the same to Fuji and walking out of the door, Ryoma on her heels.  
Fui watched her go and looked at his captain blushing a little.  
'_You know, I think I like their way better._' his usual smile replaced with something a little more devilish.

Ryoma watched the blonde girl for a moment or two as they left his friend's house.  
'Hmm, now I understand.' he said, returning his view to straight ahead.  
'What is it?' she asked.  
'Buchou confessed his feelings to you.'  
'Well, not in so many words but we had a conversation about it, yes.'  
'And what did you say?'  
'Nosy, aren't you?'  
'Not usually. You're still going to help us get to the nationals though?'  
'Yes, I'll stay in touch. It'll be long distance training. I've offered something similar to Fudomine.'  
'Hmmm.'  
'Not to the same level as you guys but they are a public school, they need help.'  
'You wouldn't think so watching them play.'  
'Well, I'm putting them in touch with some students at _Tokyo Dai_, anyway.'  
Ryoma paused considering all of this. 'It's a shame you can't stay past Tuesday.'  
Poppy smiled at him, from Ryoma she took that to be a big compliment.  
'I know, but I was only booked at Seigaku for the week. I'm meant to go to a girls school in Osaka and help with their gymnasts. In theory, it'll be great research ...' she trailed off.  
'So anyway,' she said brightly all of a sudden, as if forcing herself not think about her impending departure 'I met some of the first-years at the party. They seem keen members of the tennis club.'  
Ryoma snorted '_Mada mada dane_.' Something about this response clearly delighted her.  
She seized him around the neck and squeezed him tight,  
'_Poppy-chan! Ack_!'  
'I'll miss you too Ryoma-chan. Let's go home and get your quota of milk inside you. It's going to be a busy day tomorrow.'


	6. Chapter 6

BEEP BEEP BEEP

'_Iie..._'

Suddenly Karupin seemed a whole lot of heavier that Ryoma had ever remembered. He opened his eyes to see Poppy sat practically on top of him.

'Hey kiddo, up, up, up! Super special training today!'  
'k, k.'  
He rubbed his eyes as she bounced out to meet Nanako in the kitchen. He could hear her retelling the story of yesterday's mishap in the park and her time at the party, while he pulled on his training clothes and regular's jacket.  
He came in and sat at the kitchen where his cousin handed him a bottle of milk.  
'Hey kiddo. Are you excited? I finally get to show you what I did for all these years!' the English girl beamed at him.  
He shrugged, knowing this wouldn't deflate her enthusiasm one bit.  
'Eiji has already sent me a whole bunch of text messages. It's very sweet but I think he's forgotten I can't read Japanese.' she passed her phone over to the boy at the table. He took it and looked through them.  
'Basically, he says he's very excited.' Ryoma flicked through the next couple. 'Very, very excited. Very, very ... you get the idea.' He returned to his milk.

It wasn't long before they were getting off the bus outside of the university.  
'We're early,' Ryoma said.  
'I know. New concept for you, huh? I need to go in and meet the trainer and check the equipment.'  
He followed her in and asked at the desk for the trampolining studio. They followed the corridor round, finding a large open room with 3 full size trampolines set over foam pits and mats and a large sprung floor for tumbling.  
Poppy whistled appreciatively 'Nice' she said approvingly.  
'Ah, Poppy-san. Welcome!' a young man in a vest and stirrup pants greeted her.  
'Kirishi-san, thank you for letting me use your facilities.' she smiled.  
'It is an honour to have you here at last.' he bowed.  
'Echizen-kun, this is Kirishi-san. He is Japan's no.1 trampolinist and a student of English here at the university.'  
They greeted each other in Japanese.  
'Are the team you are bringing gymnasts?' he asked the blonde girl.  
'Nope, they are a junior high tennis team. But, trust me, they'll put everything into this session. They're those kind of kids.'  
If the trampolinist thought there was anything strange in this he didn't show it, merely smiling and gesturing towards the equipment.  
'Well, we have thirty minutes before the team arrive. Ryoma-kun, would you help me warm up?' Poppy said beginning to bounce on her toes.  
'Sure.' He put down his rackets .'Wait, how do you warm up here?'  
'Well, we'll do some gentle stretches and then you can sit on the trampoline and bounce with me. You'll make a good target' she winked.

Before long both of them were on the trampoline and Poppy was showing Ryoma how to balance his weight to best propel himself. To his own mild suprise he found he was rather enjoying it, timing his bounces to land with Poppy bouncing opposite him.  
'The point ' she said between bounces 'of this' BOUNCE 'is to see' BOUNCE 'what you could' BOUNCE 'do if you no' BOUNCE 'longer' BOUNCE 'had to' BOUNCE 'jump'. She slowed the trampoline bed. 'You see? You are all going to feel what muscles you use most when you jump and how to harness that power with your shots.' A wicked smiled crossed her face. 'Then we will see how your accuracy drops when you're tired from jumping .'  
As the trampoline bed stopped rebounding, Ryoma was aware that his calves tingled with the contractions from his jumps.  
Poppy watched him gain control of his movement again.'Could you go out and show the rest of the team in for me? Thanks.' Ryoma dropped off the trampoline, wobbling a little as he stepped onto steady ground.  
'Mind how you are, be careful!' the blonde student called. She turned to the Japanese number one on the trampoline to her left.  
'Come on then. Let's scare them silly. Show me your latest routine.'

Echizen met the regulars at the front of the building, practically smothered whole by an over-excited Eiji.  
'_Ochibi! Have you been inside?! What are we doing_?' he said breathlessly.  
'_Follow me_,' the freshman said.  
A few minutes later they were in the gym, watching the two trampolinists give a near synchronised routine of bounces and twists.  
'_Wow wow wow wow_!' said Eiji under his breath.  
Kaidoh stepped back '_We're not doing that, are we_?'  
Poppy came to her last jump and slowed her bouncing, beckoning them over.  
'Hi everyone, this is Kirishi-san. He is Japan's no.1 trampolinist, currently training for the world championships in a few months time.'  
Tezuka immediately broke into a bow and said 'Thankyou for taking the time away from your training to spend it with us. We are very grateful.' He translated what Poppy had said and the others followed suit. Poppy smiled, pleased by this show of appreciation for her colleague.  
'Okay then, sit on the mats and let's talk.'

They gathered in a group on the mats behind them. Poppy continued 'I'm extra lucky because Kirishi-san is also a student of English here at _Tokyo Dai_ and so he can be a translator for us as I explain some of the more complex ideas I have. So let's begin...'  
Kirishi introduced himself and then Poppy showed them some examples of what muscle contraction looked like in real time. Inui mentioned the split-step asking Ryoma to demonstrate what he meant. Poppy and Kirishi explained that trampolinists and gymnasts use something similar to get height and extra spins into their jumps. Poppy explained she had a theory that if you could better time your jumping in tennis, using a spring mat or a trampoline for practise, then you could improve your reach and the height of your return.  
'It might not work,' she said in conclusion 'but I have seen something similar done back home, so I thought we could give it a try.' Kirishi translated for her and then the group looked at her for instructions. 'Okay, Kirishi-san will lead you through a typical male gymnasts' warm up while I double check the equipment and get ready to put you through your paces.' He did so and soon they were gathered at the trampolines.

'_First time round, we will have one of you on the trampoline and everyone else spotting them. That means ready to catch them if they bounce off_.' said Kirishi, before speaking to Poppy rapidly in English about his plan. She nodded. She got on to the bed. 'Okay, I've done this with Ryoma-kun already so get up here kiddo and show everyone what we did.'  
'_Hey, go Echizen!_' cheered Momo.  
The freshman climbed up, determined to look as cool as possible while jumping in front of his team mates, a feat not simple especially when Eiji was crying '_Ochibi! Bounce, ochibi!_'. Poppy talked Ryoma through the instructions in English and Kirishi translated for the rest of the team. First, he made a number of jumps to find his momentum. Next, Poppy handed him a racket and ball and he began to jump again. It was more difficult but once he was at a height that felt comfortable and controlled he threw the ball up. As soon as his muscles next contracted he made contact, sending the ball at a shuddering speed across the gym. He slowed his jump and looked at where it had got to.  
'_Hm, not bad_,' he conceeded.'_It's harder to time but if you hit it at the right moment it is easier to put more power into the ball_.' He repeated this to Poppy in English.  
'Good, good' said Poppy. 'Next one then?'  
Next came Eiji who positively delighted in bouncing as high as possible.  
'That's great, Eiji, but we need you to hit it at a similar height you would when playing tennis. It's to get the timing right, remember.'  
'_Hoi hoi! Kikamaru beam_!', he sent a ball across the gym before tripping and clattering to a stop face down on the trampoline.  
'Yup, that's it. It's all in the timing.' Poppy said sarcastically. '_Next!_'

Each regular took a turn on the trampoline with varying degrees of success, Kaidoh being suprisingly good - suprising himself especially - and Inui being really rather poor.  
'Your height is probably a disadvantage' said Poppy, which Kirishi translated before adding '_and you are over thinking it a little_.' watching the boy take a protactor from his pocket and draw a diagram.  
Finally, it was time for Fuji and Tezuka. Ryoma looked on, he didn't doubt Fuji would pick it up straight away - he was a prodigy after all - but he wondered about the captain. Bouncing up and down wasn't very dignified unless you were very good at it. He suspected his captain didn't do undignified all that often.  
True enough Fuji took just a few bounces to get the feel of it and send a ball scuttling straight for the opposite wall, dropping sharply approximately where the baseline would be.  
'Hmm, fun.' he smiled. As he got down, Poppy reached down to help Tezuka up.  
'First, move to the cross in the centre and get a sense of it, then start to swing your arms to get momentum.' Poppy nodded as Tezuka moved his body with purpose, gaining height.  
'Okay, now you know how it moves, try it again and then serve the ball.'  
His team mates watched from the edge. They could see the captain focus on his goal; jumping at the right height with the right timing. He missed the first ball but this just redoubled his efforts to get it right again. As soon as he made contact with the ball, it didn't matter that he was jumping on a trampoline. He was set in motion, his body answering the call of his brain, his muscles flowing one to another in response to what he was trying to do. There was never any doubt. They could see his muscles, the impact, the contraction and finally the release of power as the ball left his racket.  
Even Poppy and Kirishi could see that was a special gift. The blonde student smiled as the third-year slowed down his bounces on the trampoline in preperation to get off.  
'Good work, captain. I think everyone has the idea now? So, let's go for a few rounds more. Everyone has 3 attempts and then we'll move onto something else. Ah, Ryuzuki-sensei ...' she finished, seeing the team's coach come though the door with her granddaughter just behind her. 'Kirishi-san, could you spot please?'

She got off the trampoline bed and went to greet the coach at the door.  
'Thankyou for coming,' she said smiling  
'No, thank you for arranging this for us.' Ryuzuki-sensei looked around the facilities approvingly. 'Hmm, that is Kirishi-san, is it not? I watched him at an event last year.'  
'Yes, he owed me a favour so I asked him to help us today.' Ryuzuki-sensei caught the wicked look in the college student's eyes and smiled too. 'He speaks good English?'  
'Yes, he does. It's been very helpful. So, I have started the regulars training already. Let's see if they enjoy getting tired legs!' the coach laughed heartily at this idea. 'It's a good idea Poppy-san. Thankyou.'  
They watched as the regulars went through their moves, practising their serve shots and then trying to receive balls and time the returns. It was difficult but it was fun and they enjoyed watching each other bounce about, occasionally misstepping and landing heavily on the trampoline. Only Eiji actually needed catching from an over excitable bounce.

'Okay then,' Poppy said going over as they all completed their turn. 'Now we're going to do an endurance game.' she said, the wicked gleam returning to her eye once more. 'We will spread out over two trampolines and you'll bounce in pairs.' She climbed up onto the middle trampoline with Kirishi and demonstrated the two of them bouncing together, counting to twelve - she in English and he in Japanese - before they got off and ran to the mats where the team's racquets were. 'Then you play tennis' Poppy finished with a smile, 'a rally of twenty balls, before getting onto the trampoline and doing it again. We'll go three times through again.' Kirishi translated quickly.  
'You will find your accuracy will deplete the more tired you get, as this is aerobic exercise. It's like a speeded up way of getting to how you feel after five games of tennis.'  
Ryoma smirked 'Poppy-sensai has a streak of evil.' She grinned in return. 'Just doing my job, ochibi.'

Kirishi looked at the boys beginning to pair off '_I think you should pair up with approximate weights for balance_,' he said.  
Eiji grabbed Echizen and said '_That means we are a pair, ochibi_!' Fuji and Oishi stood together watching Eiji and Echizen on one trampoline while Kaidoh and Inui got onto another spotted by Kawamura and Momo. Poppy invited Tezuka over to watch the results with Ryuzuki-sensei. The college student saw Sakuno sat on a bench by the entrance watching everything with a shy sort of excitment.  
'Sakuno-kun,' she walked over and sat next to the girl 'Could you get some drinks for everyone? They'll need them for after this.' she handed over her purse, making a drinking motion and indicating the group.  
'_Hai_,' said the girl enthusiastically and heading for the door.  
Poppy watched her go with a small smile and then went over to the trampolines to help with the spotting and to encourage Inui to put his notebook down while bouncing.

Fifteen minutes later, eight regulars were flat out on the gym mats panting for breath.  
'_Legs. Can't move_' groaned Momo.  
'_Chance of recovery 0_' mumbled Inui into the mat.  
Even Eiji seemed to have lost his bounce '_my batteries are flat, nyaaa_!'  
They had all started confidently enough but were disappointed to discover that bouncing took a lot out of their legs, even Eiji who spent whole double games springing about, and this then affected their ability to get to the ball with even a simple rally. It became discouraging very quickly.  
Poppy watched them all for a minute or two, and then beckoned Sakuno to hand out the drinks she had bought.  
'Hard work, hm? Sakuno has brought you something.' The younger girl handed out drinks, to enthusiastic thanks, smiling shyly as she handed Ryoma a grape Ponta.

'I've got something to show you all.' the college student said, once they had recovered enough to sit up and drink. She walked over to her bag by the edge of the gym and pulled something out. As she walked back she held it up. Ryoma recognised it as the silver medal he had seen in her bag.  
'This is my silver medal for the group event at the World Juniors Trampolining competiton, held in 2002.' She handed it to Oishi was nearest to her. He rubbed his thumb over the engraving, turned it over in his hand, held it by its thick ribbon for a moment or two before passing it to Eiji. 'I think it's my most precious posession.' Kirishi translated this for her and she waited a moment as it was passed around before continuing. 'You see, it's not that it's a silver medal, because I was lucky enough to win a couple of golds in subsequent events, but because it was a team event. Once I graduated from the Juniors I never competed in a team event again. I remember competiting in a team event spurred me to do my very best because it wasn't just for myself, it was for my friends too. I think you feel the same way, right?' Kirishi translated again and the regulars looked at each other a little, smiling. 'Playing the way you do, even in a singles match you are never truly alone. On your way to the Nationals, at some point one of you is going to feel like you did when you came off that trampoline and couldn't even move. That is when your friends, your team mates, will help you because you need everyone to compete.' As Kirishi translated, Poppy went and sat just behind Ryoma and whispered in his ear  
'Even those of you that could stand alone will be ten times stronger when you stand with others.'

'Okay then,' Poppy said from the back, standing again. 'Eiji, I think I promised you some tumbling? Let's take a break.'  
'Yay! Yay!' Eiji sprung up again, seemingly having forgotten his aching legs.  
As Kirishi and Poppy helped Eiji learn a series of tumbles across the mats, Fuji got up and stood beside Tezuka who was watching. The smallest hint of a smile was on his captain's lips.  
'_I think Poppy-chan has picked a good career, motivating others_.'  
'_Yes_.'  
Fuji watched his captain watching Poppy coach Eiji for a moment; he was watching the college student cheer with her whole being as Eiji managed to land a difficult jump.  
'_I'm pleased she came to Seigaku_.' the reticent third-year stated.  
Fuji turned back to watch Eiji turn a cartwheel with his smile ever so slightly wider at what his friend and captain had just said.  
'_I think you should tell her that, Kunimitsu. I think she would find that encouraging._' he said lightly before going to join his team mates.  
The captain remained where he was towards the back turning this thought over in his head. Eiji landed another jump and then said '_Nya, Poppysensei-chan_. You should jump for us!' Kirishi laughed and nodded. 'I also want to see one of your famous floor tumbles. I shall tell them how you came to be a trampolinist while you prepare.' the older boy said with a sly smile.  
'Okay, okay.' the blonde girl said, seeing that there would be no escape.

Kirishi cleared the floor explaining that Poppy would go corner to corner diagonally, '_She used to be a gymnast up until the age of seventeen. At fifteen, she also started trampolining and her gymnastic skills quickly helped her climb the ladder. Within a year she was competiting for her country. That was when I first met her. Ah, Eiji-kun, I think she is about to grant your wish. Remember she hasn't trained for a while so this might not be perfect. We gymnasts go rusty quickly!_'  
They watched from the side as Poppy automatically pulled her body up to present and then took a slow breath in and out. Finally, she began a powerhouse of a run and threw her hands down to begin a series of jumps and twists, pulling from pike to somersault to midair twist as if she was pulled on an invisible wire finally landing, slightly wobbly, at the corner of the mat. The gym rang with applause and whistles, led by Ryuzuki-sensei. Even so Kirishi pouted a little '_Aw, she held out on us. No triples_.'  
'_That was holding out_?' asked Momo incredulously.  
'_Well, she's old and retired now. I guess I should let her off_.'  
Poppy looked up 'Oi! Who are you calling old?!'  
Kirishi grinned 'I see your Japanese is improving.'  
'Hmph. Only 'cos Ochibi over there gave me a reason to look it up earlier in the week.' Half a dozen pairs of accusing eyes swung for an explanation from the freshman.  
'Che,' he said looking at Poppy '_Mada mada dane_.' He pulled down his cap.  
'Pah, I'll 'mada mada' you. You want 100 bounces on the trampoline, kiddo?' she lunged at him and began tickling furiously.  
'Geddooof, gedddddofff.'

Eiji and Momo took that to mean 'bundle' and before long Ryoma found himself squashed under the combined weight of three people.  
'All this and we didn't even get to play tennis,' he grumbled picking himself up. Kirishi smiled waiting for Poppy's trump card.  
'Not so fast. As a special treat I booked you all an hour on the University courts and practise cages...' Poppy said with a sly smile. 'Now, Ryoma, say thankyou to the nice lady ...'  
'Hmph 'bout time.' mumbled the freshman. Poppy stuck out her tongue.  
'Come on then, it's this way ...' she said, thrusting the freshman's arm forward and using Echizen as a directional device.  
6 full-size courts, set-up, complete with practise equipment for exercise and a fridge full of water and isotonic drinks awaited them. Poppy was pleased to see they looked suitable impressed.  
Kirishi indicated a figure in the clubhouse watching out as they arrived. The young lady stepped out quickly and came to meet them. She greeted everyone in Japanese and Kirishi and Ryuzuki-sensei made their introductions. As she bowed to leave, Poppy walked over to her college friend.  
'What did she say?'  
'Oh she just welcomed everyone, said the tennis club here were watching the school tournaments with interest and to enjoy the practise. She's the head of facilities here.'  
'Oh, I thought for one terrible moment that they didn't get our booking.' she paused and turned to the group 'Anyway, get on with it. I'm getting hungry!' she said with a grin.  
The group didn't need telling twice and soon there was just the 'thwock, thwock' of tennis balls against racquets.

An hour later, the regulars gathered their stuff and thanked Poppy and Kirishi for their time and help. Kirishi said he had to go back in as he now had his own training to attend to, so Poppy gave him a tight squeeze and promised to call. He promised to come and watch the next tennis tournament and returned inside.  
'I should also go,' Poppy said 'It's such a lovely day but I have to finish all my notes about my time here before I move on on Tuesday.'  
'_Nya, that's so sad Poppy-chan_. You should come and live with us here!' said Eiji pouting.  
'_Maybe you could sneak her into your house to replace your giant teddy-bear_?' suggested Fuji.  
'_Street courts_?' said Ryoma, pulling down his cap.  
'_Yup_,' agreed Momo.  
'_A chance to gather further data_,' said Inui, eyes gleaming.  
'_Maybe we can take out those punks from Yamabuki_.' growled Kaidoh  
'_Sounds fun_.' agreed Fuji '_We're near St.Rudolph, I'll call Yuutu_'.  
'Ooooh, they play doubles there, don't they?' said Eiji, bouncing.  
'_I'd better go to make sure it's alright_,' said Oishi looking worried  
'_Yeah_,' agreed Kawamura '_We don't want anyone getting hurt before the tournament..._' Echizen passed him his racquet.  
'GREAT-O, BURNING STREET BABY! LET'S GO!'  
'Are you going Tezuka-kun?' asked Poppy watching as the others began to pick up their bags and leave. He looked at her for a moment, seemingly turning something over in his head.  
'You mentioned you were hungry. Would you like to get lunch with me?' he asked. She looked up, suprised, and paused for a moment before looking delighted.  
'It's been a long time since I've been asked out to lunch.' He blushed slightly at this 'I would love to.'  
She picked up her bag and waved to the boys leaving in the opposite direction.  
'_Hey, where's buchou going_?' asked Momo with an animated expression of confusion playing out across his features.  
Fuji looked to where Poppy and Tezuka were beginning to walk away. '_I think our captain is taking Poppy for lunch_.' he said with a small smile. He knew this would involve an eruption of rumours but it was too fun to stop especially when that statement was actually completely true. He thought maybe that was the best bit.

Poppy walked alongside her younger companion for a few moments thinking over what she should say to set the record straight. Just as she was about to speak she heard Tezuka speak first.  
'Is there any particular food you wanted?'  
'Oh, um, well, I don't know a lot of Japanese foods - noodles and sushi aside - so whatever you recommend. Oh, and I'm dreadful with chopsticks.'  
'Do you like Italian? There is a nice place near here that serves good pasta.'  
'Sounds great. Thanks!'  
She was suddenly aware that of the two of them she was much more uncomfortable. I should tell him this isn't a date. He's just a junior high school kid. It isn't fair to ...  
Her thoughts were interrupted when her companion spoke again.  
'I appreciate the time you have spent with our team. I hope you have learnt as much from it as I have.'  
'You've learnt things from me? That's ... wonderful. I just hoped not to be a nuisance.'  
'When do you return to England?'  
'I go back in a week's time. I am meant to have three days in Osaka at a school there and then I am back in Tokyo just for one further afternoon before I fly out.'  
'I see. Ah, the restaurant is just here.'

They went inside and were sat at a table at the back by a window overlooking a small garden.  
'Thanks for taking lunch with me. It's nice to have company.' Poppy smiled.  
'You're welcome.' Tezuka nearly smiled but instead he looked down at his menu. 'Do you need me to translate the foods?' he asked.  
'No, I did Italian at school so I can read the Italian names. Thanks,' she looked over the menu 'I think I'll have the seafood risotto.'  
'I think I'll have the same.'  
There was a long pause.  
'Kunimitsu, I wish you were a few years older or I were a few years younger. You seem like a very sweet person. I'm amazed you don't have a girlfriend.' he blushed a little but eventually looked up to meet her gaze. 'But I'm 23. I live in England. My Japanese is terrible and I can't play tennis. Right now, I'm not the girl for you.' She sighed a little. 'But that doesn't mean to say we can't be friends, proper friends. I know a lot about training and preparation to go professional. It can be very lonely.' She paused again. 'It still is lonely'. She met his eyes dead on 'You will need the support of your friends just as they need you.'  
Just then the waiter came over and Poppy ordered for both of them before sitting back to hear what, if anything, Tezuka had to say.  
'Echizen told me earler this week that I have a lot to learn from you and he is right. I would be honoured to call you my friend.' His face broke into the most genuine smile she had seen from him 'Just don't tell Echizen he was right. He'll challenge me to another match while he think he's on a roll.' Poppy laughed, tickled by this idea.  
'Are you and he rivals then?' she asked curiously.  
'I suppose, of sorts. Echizen has something I haven't seen in any other player. I think he gets it from his father ...'  
The conversation continued comfortably over their meal. Tezuka found, although he was speaking in a different language, that somehow it was easier for him to open up knowing that it was just he and Poppy there with no regulars overhearing or anyone he knew around. She had good advice for handling the different personalities in their team and ways to motivate them to improve.  
Fuji was right, Tezuka thought, she is good at this. I'm glad I didn't shy away from being around her purely because of my own discomfort.

On the street courts, Eiji and Momo were filling in their own details. Oishi was attempting to stop them, Inui was taking notes, Kawamura was shaking his head and Fuji merely inserted an encouraging adjective or two where he thought it would enhance the narrative. Kaidoh and Echizen were taking on a couple of players from St.Rudolph.  
Momo was just reaching the bit where he was describing how Tezuka would sweep Poppy off her feet and take her into a love hotel when Kaidoh finally turned and hissed.  
'_Hey Momo-senpai_,' said Echizen with his racket behind his head '_We're at match point here_.'  
'_Yeah, so shut up moron_!' said Kaidoh  
'_Who are you calling moron, moron_?' yelled Momo stomping over.  
'Hmm.' said Mizuki smoothly, hopping over a bleacher and walking onto the court. '_Aren't you forgetting what's important here_?'  
'_Are you about to give us spiel about teamwork because we went on the motivational course this morning_.' said Echizen pulling down his cap.  
'_Of course not_,' replied the purple clad boy smoothly '_My sources tell me that your captain is on a romantic date with a girl and none of you are watching him. Why not? Where has that famous Seigaku curiosity gone_?'  
'_It's not a date_' stated Echizen flatly. '_He's having lunch with a visiting exchange student_'  
'_Sounds like a date to me ..._'  
'_Well, you're .._.' Echizen paused, aware that his words were sinking into a din of a dozen junior high students suddenly enveloped by massive curiosity.  
The freshman looked back at the manager of St.Rudolph's. '_You did this because we were about the thrash your doubles pair, didn't you_?' he said with a scowl.  
'_Who, me_?' Mizuki tried to feign innocence but the ever present smirk crept back over his face. '_Better follow the parade, Echizen, or you'll miss out_.'  
Ryoma picked up his bag and stomped off the court to follow his senpais who were hurrying out of the park.

Momo and Eiji were right at the front.  
'_How can we find out where they are, nya_?'  
'_We could ring Tezuka_?' suggested Momo  
'_Too obvious_,' said Inui '_There is only 0.1 chance he'll pick up._'  
'_We could text Poppy_?' said Eiji '_She'll tell us_.'  
'_They were heading away from the university courts_.' said Fuji '_To go eat. I think they'll be in one of the restaurants across the street_.'  
'_Maybe we should just leave them in peace_?' suggested Oishi desperately.  
The entire group turned back to look at him. '_Okay, it was just a suggestion ..._' he wavered.  
'_Hey, Echizen, Echizen_!' Momo called to the freshman joining the group as they reached the crossing to the street.'_Where do you think Poppy and Tezuka have gone to eat_?'  
'_I don't care_.'  
'_Ohh, Echizen, I'll buy you Ponta for a week, nyaa!_'  
The smallest player sighed and looked across at the options.  
'_Tezuka would have asked her what she wanted to eat. She doesn't know a lot of Japanese food, so Tezuka will suggest European food - like that Italian place right there._'  
Fuji smiled. '_Echizen-tensai_.'

They gathered outside the restaurant, peering over the red, green and white flower displays into the windows, Kawamuru urging everyone to be careful with the restaurant's property.  
'_Echizen, you have to go in and see if they're there_!' said Momo, propelling the boy towards the door  
'_Huh? Why me? I don't care_!'  
'_Because you're the smallest and you can creep in an unseen._'  
Echizen turned away, '_No thanks_', only for his chest to meet the hands of Eiji, Inui, Kaidoh and Momo who forcefully pushed him through the door backwards. He stumbled into the counter, stood up and took in his surroundings only to discover with dismay that not only were Poppy and his captain there, they were the only patrons there and so his entrance had not got unnoticed. Ryoma decided to go for the path of least resistance  
'_Buchou, Poppy-chan. The team is outside and they want to come in_.' He said it as stoically as possible, aware that this transgression was likely to lead to a record number of laps for all concerned.  
'_I see,_' said Tezuka. He meant this literally and figuratively as, when Echizen turned to face the window, it was clear to see every one of his team mates looking in. The glass was only darkened on the outside. Ryoma looked at Poppy. He thought for one horrible moment she was crying before he realised she was shaking, unable to speak from laughing.  
'_You boys ..._' she started before collapsing into giggles once again. It seemed to be infectious because even Tezuka had to look down for a moment and regain his composure before looking at Echizen again. '_Tell them there is lots of space for lunch in here._' Echizen nodded and went to the door to get them in.

By now, Poppy had tears running down her face from laughing so hard as the team sheepishly came in. She called over a waiter and asked him in her best schoolgirl Italian to set up a table for ten, which he did, moving tables together for the group to sit down.  
'You are all incorrigible!' she said wiping her eyes. When this was met with blank looks she looked to Ryoma, who shrugged.  
'Okay, you're all very very badly behaved.' she wagged a finger. At this the regulars looked suitably chastised. 'Anyway, let's eat. Or rather you eat. I'm getting dessert.'  
Tezuka sat opposite her, watching as she interacted warmly with each member of his team, even though she didn't speak their language. He found himself torn - torn between being fifteen and captain of a successful and talented tennis team and wishing he were a college student in Europe studying with the girl who he had already found to be an inspiration.

He looked down at the tea that he had ordered, idly wondering what was predicted in the leaves at the bottom. He murmured to himself in English, 'Right now, she is not the girl for me. Right now.'

Tuesday morning's practise was a solemn one. The next tournament was at the end of the week and the regulars redoubled their efforts in practise. Somehow the courts seemed quieter than usual. Poppy had left to go to Osaka and would fly out of Tokyo the day before their tournament. She had made everyone promise to stay in touch, leaving everyone with a kiss on the cheek and a promise to return to watch them in the finals of the Nationals.  
'Look, I'm even going to leave my medal with Ochibi so you have to win one, then I can get mine back!' she said over lunch, pulling the medal round the youngest boys neck. 'So, don't let me down!'  
The boys had cheered and laughed at Ryoma's discomfort at wearing a medal with a trampolinist on the front but he found himself touched that she had so much faith in them as to leave her prize behind. 'Don't worry, ' he said 'We'll win.'  
'_Hai_!' agreed the team, as one.  
And now it was time to work harder towards that goal.

Returning to the locker room, Ryoma remembered what he had in his bag. Poppy had thrust a bunch of envelopes into his hand the night before.  
'These are thank yous for your team mates. Sorry they are in English, maybe you can help translate them for your friends?' he had rolled his eyes but accepted them and even the gentle hug the girl had given him the night before she was due to leave. 'There's one in there for you too. Don't open it until tomorrow with your team.'  
'Next time we meet, you should weigh more.' he said to her. She smiled 'Next time we meet, you can actually buy me tea.' and she kissed him on the cheek.  
'Oh Ryoma?'  
'Hmm?' he turned from the doorway of his room  
'I left something on your bed for you.' she smiled and went to Nanako's room to finish packing.  
He walked inside to see Karupin asleep on his pillow and just by her snoozing head was a large print of Ryoma in his regular's jacket sending a ball away from his racket, every ounce of determination visible. Poppy had signed it with a note saying 'I hope you always feel this way about tennis.' . Beside it was a large colour programme for the previous summer's Wimbledon with a post-it note 'Next year's must see: Echizen Ryoma.' Finally there was a subscription to an American tennis magazine, the same Ryoma had seen Tezuka reading the other day, and he was sure this was not a coincidence.

Now Ryoma pulled out the envelopes for his team-mates and put them in their lockers. He sat quietly lacing his shoes watching as one by one they came to open their letters. Kaidoh was first, taking out a piece of card with some lines drawn on it. He turned it over a few times but clearly didn't know what to make of it. By then Momo, Fuji and Eiji had opened their cards as well, and found the same card but with different lines. Ryoma stood up and walked closer to look at them, opening his own card.  
_'Oishi_!' Eiji said spotting his doubles partner '_Open your card_!'  
'_Hmm_?' he said picking up the envelope from his locker, recognising the Romaji of his name. He opened it. Same plain card, more lines.  
'_Hey look_,' said Eiji '_Ours match_.' putting his and Oishi's cards together.  
'_Hmm, I see_.' said Ryoma, stepping forward. '_Do you recognise the lines now_?'  
Tezuka, Kawamura and Inui opened their envelopes.  
'_I see it_' said Fuji. He took the cards from everyone and arranged them.  
'_Ahhh_!' they said together.  
Eiji smiled 'Seigaku Tennis Club. _Drawn just like on our jerseys_.'  
'_And all of us together make up the team_' said Tezuka. '_Let's put these on the wall_.'

Dear Kunimitsu,

I'm waiting at the airport to get on my plane back home now so I thought I'd send you a postcard before I leave. I had a great time meeting you all. You are all super-special people. As you know, Ryoma made me buy a racquet while I was out in Tokyo so I'm going to sign up to lessons when I get home. I'd say we should play when we next meet but I've seen you practise - it's terrifying!  
I look forward to hearing about your next matches in the tournament. I'm guessing you won't get a chance to go on holiday between now and the nationals but if you do end up in Europe for any reason let me know. I'd come and visit you in a heartbeat. In the meantime please keep in touch by phone, letter and email and let me know if you want any coaching advice. Or anything at all. Keep Ryoma in his place for me.  
So, I'll say good bye Right Now but I really hope to see you in the future. I guess we'll know when we get there,

All my love,

Poppy


End file.
